In Algeria, thousands of PhD and master’s degree holders are unable to secure employment in their areas of expertise. This dilemma has raised serious questions about whether to sustain graduate studies across all disciplines, or to tailor program enrollment to the demands of the labor market.
Since attaining independence in 1962, Algeria has upheld the principle of “democracy in education”: the Algerian government has long made universal access to education a budgetary priority, even at the doctoral level. This substantial investment in education, distinguishing Algeria from Tunisia and Morocco, is made possible by the country's financial stability derived from oil revenues.
There are currently approximately 14 million students in Algeria, representing a third of the population, with 1.5 million in higher education. The nation boasts 240 universities, of which only 20 are privately owned, catering to around 4,000 students. Among the total number of university students in the country, 63,500 are pursuing doctoral studies, while 374,000 are enrolled in master's programs. The teaching faculty comprises 70,000 educators, of whom 46,000 possess extensive experience. Annually, Algeria produces 377,000 graduates, including a significant number of PhD holders.
Several factors motivate university graduates in Algeria to pursue doctoral studies. For master’s graduates, it is difficult to secure full-time government jobs, given the intense competition and low wages. As a result, many go on to doctoral programs in the hope of obtaining even a part-time university position, as PhD studies in Algeria are not a full-time commitment and doctoral students often work in governmental institutions simultaneously. For those unable to secure employment, automatic scholarships ensure access to necessities such as free transportation and heavily subsidized meals.
The number of unemployed graduates has steadily grown, reaching nearly 22,000 PhDs over the past two years, as only 1,500 to 1,600 individuals secure university jobs each year. Facing this dire situation, graduates have tried pressure the government through protests and sit-ins at the Ministry of Higher Education. In September 2023, these actions led the government to employ a significant number of them outside the university, and to initiate the largest-ever recruitment drive in the university sector in Algeria’s history.
This proved controversial, however, as nearly 1,300 experienced professors needed to retire to make way for the employment of 10,000 unemployed doctorate holders—raising concerns among university students about the potentially negative impact on the quality of their education. Moreover, this recruitment initiative was only a temporarily solution, as it did not address the problem of thousands of expected graduates who will soon find themselves in the same predicament. Additionally, the initiative overlooked PhDs employed outside higher education institutions who await employment within the university.
The Ministry of Education is now faced with a significant challenge. Universities will continue to be unable to provide jobs for the huge number of graduates, and the trend among new master's graduates to pursue doctoral studies will likely continue. It appears that the country is on the verge of scaling back or even halting enrollment in doctoral problems, but the timing of any official announcement remains uncertain.
Although Western countries have encountered a similar challenge, many have come to recognize that a doctoral degree may not necessarily guarantee a prestigious job. In some European states, job opportunities are increasingly accessible to individuals without such advanced credentials, while Arab countries have yet to embrace such a move.
For Algeria, the pursuit of doctoral degrees should be reserved for exceptional scholars rather than viewed as a remedy for unemployment. A reduction in the number of doctoral students across all disciplines would represent a prudent step forward, ultimately promoting educational quality. Conversely, the government ought to focus on creating more job opportunities across diverse sectors of the economy, including industry, agriculture, services, and start-ups. Leveraging the nation's investment potential is crucial to curbing unemployment rates among PhDs in the medium term. As in many nations worldwide, the era when a PhD guaranteed a university position in Algeria has passed—a reality that Algeria’s youth must be made aware of.
Abu Bakr Khaled Saad Allah holds a doctorate in applied mathematics and is a professor of mathematics at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Algeria. He is a researcher at the Laboratory of Partial Differential Equations of the Ministry of Higher Education.
