Gender Effect on the Professional Integration and Remuneration of Tunisian Young Higher Education Graduates

In Tunisia, the problem of the professional integration of higher education graduates has persisted since the 1990s. A survey was developed among graduates to determine the indicators and determinants of unemployment among young graduates as part of the quality support program initiated by the World Bank. In this context, we compared the graduates' perceptions of agricultural engineers and licensed students in economic and managerial sciences about the entrepreneurial skills needed for employment and their evaluation of the corresponding academic programs. The survey analysis result indicates that unemployment affects girls much more, especially undergraduates. Significant gender differences were observed both in waiting time to get the first job and in remuneration, mainly for agronomic engineers. Engineer perceptions for entrepreneurship skills were significantly higher, revealing poor academic performances in this issue. Reform of the studying program integrating entrepreneurship, technology, critical thinking, and soft skills is an urgent issue to enhance the attractiveness of the agronomic institutes and increase youth engagement in the agronomic pathway. [For the full proceedings, see ED630893.]