40,000 annual university graduates in Kurdistan Region, says KRG official

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Kochar Azad, a senior official of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, on Friday revealed to Kurdistan24 that even if Iraq’s deteriorating political situation returns to normal, the KRG will not be able to hire its annual large number of graduates due to supply and demand issues. 

She noted that there are 40,000 university graduates in the Kurdistan Region annually.

"We have two main reasons for establishing career development centers: firstly, to guide young people towards employment opportunities in the private sector, and secondly, to foster an entrepreneurial mindset among our youth," she explained.

In order to enhance the capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education institutions, the ministry, in coordination with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has launched a project to pilot business development centers.

Rather than relying on government employment and pre-existing private sector ventures, the project seeks to instill business skills so that graduates successfully establish their own ventures in the region.

Initially, MIT experts trained several teachers from universities throughout the Kurdistan Region. The teachers will eventually be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the project.

Editing by Dastan Muwaffaq