Arts, humanities students to boycott start of academic year

The General Union of Tunisian Students (Union Générale Tunisienne des Etudiants or UGTE) called on all students registered in faculties of arts and humanities to boycott the 2024-25 academic year that will start in mid-September and to protest to prevent policies that may lead to their unemployment.

This call was included in an UGTE statement issued on 8 August by Wassim Ben Messaoud, the UGTE secretary general.

One of the concerns is that university graduates may not be able to get teaching jobs due to the closure of the Capes competition. The Capes competition is an exam for university graduates to be able to work as school teachers.

Speaking to University World News via Facebook messenger, a spokesperson of the National Coordination of Students and Unemployed Graduates (NCSUG) who asked not to be named, said the faculties of arts, humanities, social sciences and religion at 19 universities will participate in the boycott to make “broad impact”.

“For the first time in the recent history of Tunisian universities, we will use a new form of protests – boycotting [students’] return to university, instead of only boycotting lessons in the middle of the academic year,” NCSUG’s spokesperson said, blaming the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research for working with the Ministry of Education to make changes to policies that will affect graduates’ employability.

“Our message through the boycott is to reject all strategies that could exclude higher degree graduates from their right to recruitment and that are marred by ambiguity about the future of current students at universities,” NCSUG’s spokesperson said.

Status of graduates

“The arts and humanities sector has been witnessing a catastrophic situation since 2017 as a result of [its] deliberate marginalisation by those overseeing it and successive ministers; starting with the closure of the Capes competition.

Then the ministry issued a statement on 4 August that stated that after a period of approximately four years teachers will only be able to come from education and teacher training institutions. Those who are currently in faculties of arts and humanities will not be able to teach because they are not teaching specialists.” Ben Messaoud described these actions as “failed policies”.

“We reject the ministry’s statement … which aims to exclude graduates of the faculties of arts and humanities from recruitment and are cutting them off from job opportunities,” Ben Messaoud stressed.

Demands

Ben Messaoud said students will continue to call for the reform of the arts and humanities – as they have done since February 2023, and for the reopening of the Capes competition.

Support for the boycott has come from the NCSUG and the UGTE office of the Higher Institute of Theology of Tunis at Ez-Zitouna University.

In line with UGTE demands, a group of students wrote on the Facebook page entitled Espace étudiant Tunisien: “Many students dreamed of becoming teachers, but the Ministry of Education closed the door to recruitment by not having a Capes exam since 2017.”

“This means that the student obtains a bachelor degree, a masters degree and a doctorate, and no recruitment exam is held to enter work [in a specialty area].”

“The solution is to bring back the Capes so that those who deserve it can enter a career in education.”

University World News did not get a reply to questions sent to the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Ministry of Education about the boycott.

A July 2023 World Bank report titled Why is Tunisia’s Unemployment So High? showed that Tunisia has one of the highest unemployment rates in the region and an August 2023 report pointed out that university graduates represented about a third of those who are unemployed in Tunisia.

An October 2022 report titled Improving Skills and Employment Opportunities in Tunisia found that a large section of unemployed tertiary graduates were waiting for public sector jobs.