Part-time jobs help UAE students' career prospects

Most students in the UAE dream to acquire some work experience and earn while still in university. More than 20,000 students enrolled in institutions licensed by the Dubai Creative Clusters Authority (DCCA) can now fulfil it.

University students in Dubai are allowed to work part time with pay, in thousands of companies within the nine free zone clusters including Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Dubai Studio City, as per DCCA’s announcement last month. Before this regulation, gaining professional work experience during university years was challenging for students. And due to lack of practical work skills, many graduates found it difficult to find a good job as a newbie entering the employment zone. 

Soft skills gap

According to job site InternsME’s UAE Student and Graduate Survey 2016, 52 per cent of students and graduates feel their universities have not focused enough on employability. Up to 2,319 verified students and graduates living in the UAE participated in the survey by email. 

“It was important to put a legal system into an otherwise unstructured space so both students and employers feel more comfortable working together,” says Jean-Michel Gauthier, CEO, InternsME.  “The regulation will do a lot to tackle the soft skills gap since education isn’t limited only to the academic institutions.

“A typical internship ranges from Dh3,000-Dh5,000 per month, which depending on tuition fees could help parents meet higher education costs in some small way. However, students with more work experience under their belt are more likely to land full-time jobs upon graduation, which will certainly help with financial burdens on the family, for example, tuition loan payments,” he adds.