Public universities in Yemen are witnessing a great reluctance to enroll in all majors in general and in humanitarian majors in particular. However, this reluctance raises a number of questions and concern stemming from fear for the future of these universities and then for the future of all education in Yemen. In this regard, some observers may attribute this reluctance to multiple reasons, including the deteriorating financial and security conditions resulting from the war in Yemen, which greatly affect the ability of students to continue their studies, but the reasons are definitely not the case, even if they appear to be so at first glance.
Moreover, anyone who observes the situation and the reality of university education in Yemen in recent years will find that a number of reasons may seem valid behind this reluctance, particularly in light of the absence of a comprehensive study of it. But the wise observer also finds that there is a remarkable increase in the establishment of the private universities, colleges, centers, and institutes that raises suspicion and many questions, especially since the local reality does not tolerate the establishment of such a huge number of universities—particularly in the governorates where there are public universities that are important in terms of their staff and available majors—nor in their absorptive capacity.
In conjunction with this massive establishment of private universities, a significant decline is observed in the enrollment for the public universities with all their scientific, practical, and humanities colleges. The decline in some scientific and practical colleges reached 70%, while in the humanities colleges reached 95%, and in some departments it reached 100%. In fact, it even reached the point where the number of applicants at some colleges did not exceed 10 students in all of their departments. These are the colleges in which the number of applicants was at least four thousand students every year, for example. All this is for the benefit of private universities and colleges, in particular the medical ones.
Whoever looks at the nature of the private universities established in the last ten years, in general, and in the last five years, in particular, finds that they are of a medical nature. Also, whoever looks at the recent outputs of these colleges, universities, centers, and institutes will find that they have flooded the local market with pharmacists, doctors, lab workers, and technicians, to the extent that most of the graduates are now suffering from unemployment. However, by looking at these outputs as well, we find that students are still seeking education and enrolling with an unprecedented intensity, but only in medical specialties. Consequently, this indicates that a serious event is taking place in the country, not only for public universities but also for the learners themselves, for the local market in which these medical outputs are accumulated, and for the future of education as a whole.
What is happening recently raises a fundamental question: Is such an act a systematic destruction of the reality of university education in the country?
Thus, it does not stop at this question alone; many questions branch out from it, including, for example: Is this act considered dumping on the market with outputs that are not needed in any way? Does this indicate that there is an unjustified creation of recession and unemployment and a floating of the entire educational situation? Does this also mean that there is a destruction and forced evacuation of the market for the very important humanities majors?
Despite all of this, anyone who observes this confusing situation will find that many of the questioners are still not well aware of the main reason behind the recent decline in the enrollment for public universities and the overall low enrollment for humanities colleges and for most scientific and practical colleges, because they did not read the scene carefully, especially in light of the absence of accurate statistics on the number of private institutes, colleges, and universities in all of Yemen, nor on the graduates who graduate from them each year.
“The reluctance to leave the public universities cannot be linked to the conditions of students and the poverty of their parents, nor to the results of the war and its consequences; because the students are applying in large numbers to enroll in private universities, and the percentage of non-applicants for education is the same as it was before.”
The absence of statistics—despite their importance—neither advances nor delays, in view of the continuous establishment of private universities and the great demand for them, and in light of the great recession in the market for the outputs of these universities. However, on the other hand, this is a great indication that the real reason behind this dilemma is not due to the inability of some students to pay tuition fees in public universities, nor to the war and its consequences on the entire country, nor to the poverty resulting from this war that has lasted eight years and still continues. Accordingly, this is a gross and misleading simplification of the subject, because if we think about this issue, we will find that education in public universities is completely free, except for a small fee that the student pays annually for registration and renewal of registration. Consequently, this means that this hypothesis is completely excluded and that the spread of private universities and medical specialties is the pivotal reason behind this.
Therefore, the reluctance to leave the public universities cannot be linked to the conditions of students and the poverty of their parents, nor to the results of the war and its consequences; because the students are applying in large numbers to enroll in private universities, and the percentage of non-applicants for education is the same as it was before. So, the financial issues, poverty, or psychological state resulting from the consequences of the war have nothing to do with it. Rather, the issue is related to the proliferation of private universities and the like in this threadbare and ill-considered quantity.
A long time ago, education enjoyed the prestige and reverence felt by students applying for it. The applicants were reckoning with and counting a thousand considerations for every step they were taking in this aspect. However, now, any student can go to any private institute, university, or college and enroll in it without caring about any criteria related to admission and the ensuing details, except for what is rare. This led to the loss of the status and prestige of education as well as universities. In addition to that, as a result, public education has become faltering and is on the verge of collapse and extinction. It is true that private universities are a source of income for those in charge of them and those who are complicit in their proliferation, but they dishonor education and kill it.
Accordingly, the establishment of private universities and the like with such a large number requires the concerned authorities to take a serious stand to address this fundamental imbalance, to reconsider everything that is happening, and then to take strict and serious practical steps before it is too late and before the collapse of all education, both governmental and private, and to link all of this to the state’s policy, which certainly does not accept such an imbalance.
