Who Is The BCI For?

The BCI Questionnaire targets two distinct groups of people:

The young Arab people across the Middle East and North Africa now comprise one of the most youthful regions in the world with some 60% of the population under 25 years of age. However, the region also suffers from chronically high unemployment with over half of the Arab youth unable to find jobs.

As oil prices fell, so too did recruitment into many countries’ public sectors. Now young people are being encouraged by their leaders to consider working in the private sector where many companies are owned and staffed by foreign expatriates. Further education at universities is also seen as a way to secure high-paying positions in either the public or private sector.

Many face difficult cultural border crossings as they think about attending a university where the language of instruction differs from their own or working in a private sector company staffed by foreigners, both men and women who speak different languages and behave in different ways.

The second group is made up of employers, HR managers, and university registrars who recruit or enroll hundreds of young Arab people each year. Some companies and universities are doing a good job in assisting the Arab youth to find their place, their sense of belonging. But many are not, and the experience of making cultural border crossings to work or study appear to be simply too much, the experience too alien, too raw. Many leave within just a few short weeks.

In the workplace, knowing how to manage, how to successfully orientate and onboard new Arab recruits will lead to much better and more cost-effective long-term outcomes with happy employees staying beyond a year and actively contributing to the company’s growth.  At university or colleges of further education, improving student retention rates is now a national imperative as countries across the MENA region look inward to develop its massive human potential and capacity.