Arab Mediterranean youth's values: The role of values and value congruence on intentions to Emigrate

This paper analyses the role of personal values, value congruence and intentions to emigrate among Middle East and North Africa (MENA) youth. We use a survey data set (N = 8.087) from Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia, collected among respondents aged 15–29. Results showed that beyond demographic characteristics, such as being male, highly educated and not having a job, personal values predicted higher chances of reporting intentions to emigrate. Logistic regression results showed that stimulation and achievement values predicted higher, and tradition values predicted lower chances of reporting intentions to emigrate. Furthermore, value congruence (i.e., having similar values as those of most of their co-nationals) was related to lower chances of reporting intentions to emigrate. These results support the notion that those who intend to emigrate differ from their co-nationals in terms of value priorities. We discuss the policy implications of our findings.     

Financial Literacy and Economics Education Among Young Adults: An Observation From Tunisia

Financial literacy is a key element in financial decision making and well-being, which may affect all areas of our lives. Inadequate levels of financial literacy, particularly among young adults, is a global problem. This study addresses the following questions: are young adults financially literate, and how can this be measured? This study examines financial literacy and economics education among university students in Tunisia. The findings suggest that university students have inadequate knowledge of personal investment. Most importantly, the authors find that financial illiteracy is prevalent. Although this study was limited to Tunisian students, applications to broader young adult populations, particularly in the assessment method, are easily made.     

PhD crisis in the Global South: Oversupply or mismanagement of talent?

Rising unemployment rates among PhDs gave relevance to a crisis narrative revolving around the assumed oversupply of doctorate holders. The discourse, which originated in established systems of higher education two decades ago, has not been duly tested in the Global South. Taking Tunisia as a case in point, this article probes the validity of the association between high unemployment rates and the oversupply narrative to answer the question of whether Tunisia actually trains more PhDs than necessary. Using quantitative data from national and supranational databases, the state of affair in Tunisia is put into perspective with some neighbouring and OECD countries along four axes: stock and flow of PhDs, student experience, qualification of academic staff and transition to employment. Overall, the paper's main finding discredits the oversupply claim as Tunisia trails in a number of respects but calls for upgrading the static and rather obsolete doctoral training system. Doctorate holders' unemployment is mainly rooted in structural economic and bureaucratic deficiencies as well as a traditional occupational structure that fails to grasp PhDs outside academia. A more exhaustive policy mix is required to streamline the management of doctoral output and address the signs of a degrading research potential.     

Class-time utilization in business schools in Tunisia

Tunisian Universities, like many other universities in the developing countries, do not adopt any textbooks and rather rely on classrooms as the main learning resource for the students. This study is concerned with observing what is going on inside the classrooms of five business schools. The collected data, relating to 75 randomly selected classes, show that the instructors are utilizing on average less than 55% of the time of the lecture for teaching purposes. From their side, the students recorded an attendance rate lower than 34%. The rate drops to 20% when excluding the students engaged in extraneous activities. These incredible figures raise serious questions about the academic learning of the students.