Some 42 percent of all Iranian undergraduates and postgraduates are currently unemployed, said Asghar Keshtar, vice-president of the government-run University of Applied Science and Technology in Tehran.
During a discussion on high levels of joblessness across the country, Keshtar indicated that difficulty finding a job in Iran rose if one went through higher education. Among those only educated up to the high school diploma, he said, the unemployment rate stood at 24 percent. Meanwhile, a reported 31 percent of those who attended school but didn't finish high school were unemployed, compared to just three percent of “illiterate” citizens.
“The country’s higher education system has failed to gain the trust of young people,” Keshtar lamented. “Fifty-two percent of those who take part in the national university entrance exam don’t go on to pick a course. That is to say, they opt not to study.
“If we had quality technical training at the University of Applied Sciences, the unemployment problem would be resolved.”
Keshtar also argued that all citizens ought to be pursuing degrees “in order to succeed” and called for new courses to be created at the university with job guarantees attached.
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