How Can the Education-Industry Partnership within the Qatari Oil & Gas Industry Facilitate Engineering Graduates’ Transition from School to Work and Enhance their Engagement with the Labour Market?

There continues to be a significant scarcity of engineering graduates in Qatar, despite the increasing demand for this category of graduates, especially within the prospering oil and gas industry. This research aims to exploring the areas that require attention from the education-industry partnership in order to minimize the obstacles associated with the transition process, identifying the potential ways through which other stakeholders may help enhance the education-industry partnership and identifying potential models which both help explain and can aid in facilitating the school-to-work transition and enhancing the engagement levels with the labour market. However, the research addresses the education-industry relationship in a wider dimension, not limiting the focus to the ‘university-industry’ relationship, as is frequently the case whenever the former term is used. The study deployed a qualitative research methodology to address the key research issues. The data collected was from semi-structured interviews, structured interviews, focus group discussion and self-completion questionnaires, in addition to the researcher’s own observations. The findings indicate that the current forms of collaboration are limited to typical university-industry relationships and that the existing career education practices are inadequate in serving national developmental strategies effectively. Furthermore, the findings indicate a declining aspiration path among engineering graduates and concerning orientations towards the labour market despite the prosperous economic conditions and generous investment in education and training. While appreciating that many factors may affect the transition process, the research highlights the necessity for all concerned parties to focus on career education at all stages: a significant attribute/output of an effective education-industry partnership which would facilitate smooth entry into the labour market and effective engagement with the world of work; which will ultimately lead to higher individual satisfaction, and an enhanced economic performance. Meanwhile it is argued in this study that any investment in human capital which aims to help form skills should not omit developing the "motives from within" individuals. It further emphasizes that building the sense of responsibility is a key to enhancing the outputs of any skill formation or development process. The thesis makes two main contributions to the existing body of knowledge: The Stair of Employability and the Principle-Based Career Education. The former represents a different way of thinking of employability in association with the school-to-work transition process; the latter represents a different way of thinking of career education in association with the promotion of intrinsic values.