Transitional Challenges and Shortcomings Faced by Iranian Students Entering the Job Market

One of the main functions and objectives of any educational system is to train the needed man power in the society. A clear index of having met this objective would be the smoothness by which graduates are moved from school to workplace, a challenge faced by many countries, especially the developing countries like Iran. A documentational study of the current situation in Iran has lead to the conclusion that there are two sets of challenges and shortcomings facing graduates: challenges internal and external to the ducational sytem. Among the internal shortcomings one can mention the inefficiency of the general educational sytem in strengthening the basic competencies, the weakness of the guidance system, and ineffectiveness of the training and practicum programs. The external shortcomings include the lack of balance between the demand and supply of the work force, irregularity of the man power pyramid in the job market, lack of clarity in the job market's needs, and the inadequacies of the work place. Obviously, all these shortcomings can be addressed and remedied through well planned cooperation of both internal and external educational agents.