| This qualitative study investigates how higher education institutions address youth unemployment in Lebanon. Using a descriptive study design, it maps out the issues and potential solutions within the environment the universities are embedded from the perspectives of leading policy makers in the field of higher education in the country. The policy perspectives of university rectors, government officials, and private sector employers are charted and then compared in relation to youth unemployment, jobless graduates and the higher education institutional role. The theoretical framework, which has been derived from the human capital literature and higher education institutional theories, guides analysis of interviews with institutional policymakers. The core study finding offers support for the compilation of fundamental data and official demographic statistics, which will influence any potential policy reform to be considered. Results suggest that there are differences and similarities between the different participant groups in identifying the roots, risks and responses to the problem of youth unemployment in the Lebanon. Additional findings point to a centrality of institutional role in the mitigation of the crisis of jobless graduates in the country. Among policy recommendations to follow the data compilation are joint efforts to address policy reform in the higher education subsector in Lebanon. |
