Abstract:

Youth unemployment is a growing, global issue with regions of the Muslim world being particularly exposed to the problem. This paper examines a sub-set of this issue; graduate unemployment. In particular it seeks to understand the role of student aspirations, knowledge and motivation in tackling this issue. The paper draws on the Islamic literature to develop a theoretical framework of ‘Uluww-al-himmah, high-aiming aspirations, and Rajaa, true hope. These concepts are studied with the aim of improving not only graduate employment rates, but also the wellbeing of graduates who do not find employment. The theoretical framework provides a more holistic approach through which policy makers may address the issue of graduate unemployment by delineating four interrelated axis that impact graduate employment, namely, Reach, Purity of Purpose, Knowledge and Strength of Intention. By doing so the framework facilitates the appraisal of educational spend by intervention type thus highlighting underserved priority areas; allows policy interventions to be evaluated through the tracking of student progress against each axis; and allows policy interventions to be customised at the individual student level to reflect the heterogeneity present between students. The paper therefore provides a fresh perspective for policy makers and institutional leaders to pursue.

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