Private Higher Education in Kuwait: Overview by American University of Kuwait (AUK)

“For many years, higher education here was dominated by Kuwait University, which is a large public institution. Only a few years ago, it was decided to add options for private universities that would offer different kinds of programs. The approach to education in Kuwait has generally been one with aim at the job market,” says Dr. Earl (Tim) Sullivan, President of the American University of Kuwait (AUK).

“That often means that you are aiming at what you think the job market is right now. So, there is largely a focus on professional education, and for the most part, it is a pipeline designed for a job. Most Kuwaitis are employed by the government in some way, so there has been an aim to try and fill those jobs with highly qualified people. The demand could not be satisfied locally, so they are sending students abroad, largely to the US, and also various places in Europe. Kuwait was smart in trying to provide local options as well as options for its people to go abroad, which they are able to do through oil money. Now, private universities have recently become an option. AUK is the only one outside the pattern. We have a different approach to education, focusing on the liberal arts. We are trying to give students breadth as well as depth. We want them to have a specialization in a field, for example communications and media, or engineering, but they also take a broad section of courses. With that approach, you are educating people, but we also want to prepare students for their first job, their last job and every job in between. The world in which we live now is a world of change. To some degree, the approach of many institutions of higher education is a short-sighted one. This is not necessarily negative, but they are looking at a shorter time frame and imagine that other things will take care of themselves. That does not always work. For example, most people who are professional engineers stop functioning as just engineers very early in their careers. They move into something else. They might be in sales or marketing or management, but they are not strictly speaking engineers doing engineering anymore. So, we are preparing people for a world of change and also trying to prepare them to be better citizens. It is a preparation for life.”