Infrastructure
Facilities matter when choosing a place to work
Whether it is the UAE or any other country that people choose to live in, the bottom line is that infrastructure matters. People love to work and grow in a country where you have facilities. But I have come across quite a few stories in the recent past where Indians who worked in multinational companies and corporate giants left their jobs and returned to India to start working on an idea of their own. Today, the traditional job roles – like engineer or doctor – are no longer the main income generators. You have more freedom to pursue your own ideas and if you can really work something out in the country in which you spent years studying then why not do it?
From Mr Prashant Bhatia
Business Development Manager living in Dubai
Reality
Countries might face challenges beyond their control
At the end of the day, you are studying to further your career so technically you are not entirely beholden to your country through any contractual obligation. It really depends on your personal choice and your sense of national identity and pride. If we look at the issue from a moral perspective, it depends on each country, once again. How underdeveloped is your country? Does your country really need that human capital? I also do not think that countries willingly choose to not make the nation welcoming to their nationals. What if they don’t have enough funds or are going through structural adjustment programmes because they have loans from the International Monetary Fund and they just can’t create programmes that would attract graduates to come back? It is true that they are not doing enough to improve their country’s situation, but it might not entirely be their choice in many ways.
From Ms Amna Abudyak
International relations student living in Sharjah
Money
Everyone is looking for greener pastures
When I look at my own future, I would like to study in the UAE and then move to the US to work, simply because of the field that I want to work in. Dubai offers many opportunities but when it comes to certain industries like music, design engineering or art, while the UAE is encouraging these industries, they are not yet established. In the US, the Fashion School of Design gives an amazing credential to your portfolio and the fashion industry has been established for many years.
You can get into a fashion house and there is some guarantee that you will earn money and live well and get proper guidance for your career path. I would also agree that some countries don’t focus on opportunities despite offering good education. In India, for example, the education is great but job opportunities aren’t as developed in certain areas. Unless economic opportunities are provided, your attachment to the country you spend years studying in will not be a strong enough factor to play a role in career choices.
From Ms Elizabeth Cecil
Pupil living in Sharjah
Innovation
Go where the opportunities are, because the global economy is changing
Based on artificial intelligence and the disruptions you see in the market due to technology, we can expect major layoffs because a lot of traditional jobs are just going to go away. For example, there is a company – Narrativa – where they use artificial intelligence to create articles for newspapers today.
Also, by you simply being in the country where you studied, going to school or university, you invested there through your fees, unless your education was paid for 100 per cent by your government. Otherwise, you pay tuition fees, rent etc which is also giving back to the economy.
When it comes to the question of countries not doing enough to make job opportunities for their nationals to work there, I can only speak from my experience in the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The UAE has done a phenomenal job for making it possible for UAE nationals to return to work and so has Saudi Arabia. Now, the US, too, with US President Trump seems to have an ‘America first’ approach, which means trying to give priority to Americans. President Trump has tried to revive industries like coal and the automobile industry, which employ a large number of people, even though many of the jobs might be low-skilled. However, if you look at job distribution across the US, in the majority of states the job that is most in demand is truck driver. Now, if you look at the electoral map and see the people who voted for President Trump, the majority of the states that he won were the ones which have this job right on top. So, people who were in fear of innovation and automation saw President Trump as a saviour and, to some degree, he probably is. But there is a downside to that – when you focus on legacy and old-school industries and job roles and do not make the future your priority, you are allowing other countries to either catch up with you or surpass you in regards to innovation.
When you look at the UAE, it is introducing a Blockchain strategy, a sustainability strategy and an artificial intelligence strategy among many others. This means that they are focussing on making the future better. They want to make the country the smartest in the world. All these major initiatives build resilience, meaning you can stand the test of time, which is incredible. What I see happening here is what I see in Silicon Valley, but instead of it being limited to a 20x20 square mile radius, here it is an entire country adopting that approach so the results will obviously be greater.
From Mr Damu Winston
Artificial intelligence and block chain expert living in Dubai
— Compiled by Huda Tabrez/Community Web Editor
Poll question: Are you employed in the same country where you went to school/university?
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Have Your Say: Do people have the moral responsibility to work in the country that invested in their education? Many countries haven’t done enough to make business and work opportunities alluring enough for their nationals to return home. Would you agree/disagree? Share your views on the debate or participate in previous debates. Write to us at readers@gulfnews.com