Tunisia has around a quarter of a million unemployed graduates but officials are pinning their hopes on a post Arab Spring society to create more jobs. (Photo: Reuters)
Tunisia has around a quarter of a million unemployed graduates but officials are pinning their hopes on a post Arab Spring society to create more jobs. (Photo: Reuters)

Tunisia has around a quarter of a million unemployed graduates but officials are pinning their hopes on a post Arab Spring society to create more jobs.

Reporting from Tunisia's capital, IBTimes UK caught up with Salah Benabdallah, dean of the Tunis Business School on how his institution, which was set up just before the revolution, is aiming to create a generation of educated graduates that makes the government work for them, not the other way around

"The school doesn't provide technocrats for the government but we want our students, in the future, to not have to beg the government for change. We want people to be independent and make the government work for them," said Benabdallah.

The school was created just before the onset of the Arab Spring in October 2010 and is publically funded. Benabdallah enthused that education will make sure that the government and the future of the country will be run by those who have skills to offer the rest of the world.

"With education, there is no room for extremism."

“The school doesn’t provide technocrats for the government but we want our students, in the future, to not have the beg the government for change. We want people to be independent and make the government to work for them,” said Benabdallah. (Photo: Alfred
“The school doesn’t provide technocrats for the government but we want our students, in the future, to not have the beg the government for change. We want people to be independent and make the government to work for them,” said Benabdallah. (Photo: Alfred Joyner, IBTimes UK)

The school has a strict entry criteria where entrants have to pass English language exams of have a high maths proficiency. Following the US college business model, Benabdallah says graduates will be able to look forward to a brighter future in the globalised market place.

As well as encouraging students from poorer backgrounds to enrol, the school also boasts an evenly split gender demographic.

"When you ask many of the Tunisian women inside and outside the school, they'll tell you that they want to be business leaders or entrepreneurs, they don't want to stay at home and make babies," said Benabdallah.

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Unemployment Tunisia