This study addressed the issue of employment possibilities for students graduating from An-Najah National University. The study concluded that there is a large number of graduates which led to a gap between supply and demand in the local market. There are several reasons behind this including the fact that most graduates lack many skills such as work skills, teamwork skills, computer and internet skills, English skills and others.
Also, the fact the type of education that students receive focuses less on the practical side and makes the students unable to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in their field of study. This can be attributed to the prevalent traditional academic teaching.
Work force development in Palestine faces several obstacles especially in preparing skilled workers which would lead to develop the competitiveness in the Palestinian market. Statistics show that unemployment rates are growing inside the Palestinian work market especially among young people. Reasons behind the high unemployment rates are attributed to a number of factors including: The limited and small size of the market, its inability to cope with the growing population, the fact that the Palestinian society is considerably young, the absence of a database for the characteristics of supply and demand which would, if made available, help graduates choose their majors carefully, the fact that higher education graduates in Palestine lack adequate competency, skills and practical knowledge, in addition to the fact that most majors that are offered by Palestinian universities are considered classical, meaning that the more update and modern specializations that are mostly demanded by the market are not available to students.