Challenges of Employing Postgraduate Graduates in Libya and the Possibility of Developing University–Private Sector Partnerships: Toward a Proposed Interpretive Framework

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the challenges of employing postgraduate graduates from accounting departments in Libya, in light of the weak alignment between higher education outputs and labor market needs. It places particular emphasis on the potential of developing partnerships between universities and the private sector as an institutional approach to addressing these challenges.

The study adopts an analytical–inductive methodology through a systematic review of relevant Libyan and Arab literature, with the aim of identifying the structural and institutional imbalances that hinder the effective absorption of postgraduate graduates from accounting departments, despite the quantitative expansion of their academic programs.

The findings reveal the existence of a qualitative employment gap that is not primarily attributable to deficiencies in academic qualification, but rather to the absence of institutional coordination, the weakness of regulatory frameworks governing partnerships, and the inadequate linkage between academic programs and actual economic needs.

The results further indicate that university–private sector partnerships are often presented in the literature as a general theoretical construct, without sufficient analysis of their institutional activation mechanisms. Accordingly, the study recommends the development of effective institutional partnerships that contribute to enhancing the employability of postgraduate graduates, reducing knowledge waste, and strengthening the role of higher education in Libya’s economic and social development.