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tion, in a written response to questions about the decision.
“We know that conversations are taking place at institutions
across the country about the value of the GRE test and its
role in graduate admissions,” Dr. Acereda acknowledges.
ETS’ decision regarding the GRE follows years of difficul-
ties for SAT and ACT, the two main standardised tests for
undergraduate admissions. More than 1,800 US colleges
and universities have either stopped accepting SAT or ACT
scores, or made their submissions optional.
However the SAT, unlike GRE is described by its mak-
er as a unique and invaluable tool for national and global
comparisons of students in such areas as verbal and quan-
titative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing.
“GRE scores provide the only standard, objective measure
by which academic decision-makers can evaluate applicants
with different backgrounds and experiences to determine Unemployed graduates: reckless capacity expansion outcome
their preparedness for graduate-level study,” says Dr.
Acereda, a former professor of Latin American literature at ing high school graduates, he notes.
Arizona State University. Roohola Ramezani, a researcher in Iranian studies at the
And while ETS’ own figures show a 50 percent drop in IFK International Research Center for Cultural Studies in
GRE test use, a study published last year by the Science Vienna, agrees. “Over certain periods in the past, higher
journal, reviewing application requirements for doctoral education has been blindly developed to postpone the un-
programmes in the sciences at 50 top-ranked US univer- employment crisis. So the unemployment is partly trans-
sities, found only 3 percent of the schools required GRE mitted from a less to a higher-educated population.” If the
general test scores in 2022, down from 84 percent in 2018. current trend continues, he says, it will lead to Iran’s “higher
education bubble” bursting as more people realise that a
IRAN university degree does not guarantee them a job.
Educated unemployment problem tion: about 70 percent of female graduates are unemployed,
Women fare much worse than men in the current situa-
TEHERAN’S PAST POLICIES OF ALLOWING almost three times the rate of male graduates (25 percent),
Iran’s higher education sector to “blindly develop” according to official statistics. Academics say this has been a
to absorb students facing a tough jobs market have long-lasting problem tied to traditional gender roles — with
exacerbated current high rates of graduate unemployment. women tasked with more domestic duties and with families
According to figures recently released by the Statistical Cen- sometimes not permitting their daughters to work — and to
ter of Iran, roughly one million university graduates in the discrimination in hiring.
country are currently unemployed, making up 37 percent “With the new policies of (promoting) population
of the total unemployed population at a time of soaring in- (growth) and childbearing, I think the gender gap might
flation. get bigger,” says Dr. Ramezani.
While academics expressed reservations about the ac-
curacy of the official figures, they agreed the situation is TAIWAN
concerning. Amin Mohseni-Cheraghlou, assistant professor A workable solution
of economics at American University, says job prospects
have not been helped by the recent proliferation of higher IN A FIRST, TAIWAN’S MINISTRY OF education
education institutions. “The government has allowed for has approved a so-called merger between a public
more and more private universities to come to existence to and private institution — a policy initiative that
absorb more and more of the unemployed youth and delay scholars say could be a useful model for other universities
their entrance into the labour market — basically kicking also on the brink of closure.
the can down the road,” he says. In late May, the National Taiwan University of Science
This has made the labour problem worse, he continues, and Technology (NTUST), a public institution, got the go-
with many graduates underemployed: not having enough ahead to take over the assets of Hwa Hsia, a private tech-
paid work or taking a position that doesn’t make full use nical university, that this year filled only 42 percent of its
of their education — or both. The higher education policy capacity.
has had “unintended consequences” for the government, The island struggles with a declining population — also
which faces the more difficult task of satisfying university- a growing problem in other neighbouring higher education
educated youth with high aspirations than of accommodat- sectors, including in Hong Kong and South Korea, where

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