Doha, December 03 (QNA) - A new partnership designed to produce evidence-based insights that help to guide the future development of Qatar's workforce has been formed between Qatar Foundation (QF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Data and findings from Qatar Foundation's (QF) Alumni Impact Study, a large-scale survey tracking employment outcomes, career trajectories, and perceptions of graduates from QF's universities over the past 25 years, and other labor market-related studies will be used by QF and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to develop five co-authored policy briefs.

These briefs – representing the first formal publication initiative between QF and the ILO since the establishment of the ILO Project Office in Qatar in 2018, will result in policy-focused insights for the nation's decision-makers, providing recommendations that support Qatar's human capital development goals.

The five areas that will be addressed through the partnership are bridging skills gaps and mismatches between alumni and employers; national talent retention; the extent to which Qatar's higher education system supports entrepreneurship; how higher education in Qatar can better align with the needs of the labor market; and how to advance gender equality and inclusive employment in Qatar.

The partnership was formalized through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between QF and the ILO during the recent WISE 12 Summit in Doha, hosted by QF's global education initiative WISE.

President of Higher Education and Education Advisor of QF Francisco Marmolejo said: "QF's unique education model provides us with deep insights into the factors that shape meaningful student and alumni outcomes".

He added: "This collaboration with ILO enables us to generate evidence-based perspectives aimed at advancing knowledge by contributing to practical policy recommendations that support workforce development and social progress in Qatar and the region. In addition, the QF-ILO partnership will support structured dialogue with key national stakeholders to strengthening alignment around areas of national importance such as skills development, graduate pathways, and inclusive employment, as articulated in Qatar's Third National Development Strategy."

Country Office Director of the ILO Doha Francesco d'Ovidio said: "This partnership marks the first formal collaboration between the International Labour Organization and Qatar Foundation, and we hope it will be the first of many. By collaborating with QF, gaining structured access to the anonymized dataset of the Alumni Impact Study, the ILO will be able to apply its global analytical frameworks and comparative labor market expertise to generate concrete, evidence-based policy recommendations for Qatar".

"These insights will directly support the ambitions of Qatar National Vision 2030 and the objectives of Qatar's Third National Development Strategy, helping to advance a knowledge-based economy, a future-ready workforce, and labor market policies that are firmly grounded in decent work principles. We look forward to deepening this partnership and contributing to Qatar's long-term human capital development," he said.

QF's Alumni Impact Study has surveyed, over an extensive period, the paths taken by graduates of eight of its universities, including the sectors in which they are employed; the relevance of the skills they have acquired to labor market needs; career mobility; job satisfaction; and their perception of alignment between education and employment. Drawing on this dataset, the ILO will apply its internationally recognized expertise in labor market analysis, skills development, and employment policy, including comparative global benchmarks and analytical frameworks widely used across ILO member states, as the two organizations co-author and disseminate the five briefs. These publications will be accompanied by national dialogue sessions engaging ministries, universities, employers, and civil society, with the goal of identifying research-backed, actionable pathways for strengthening Qatar's workforce.

In the 30 years since QF was established, over 11,000 students have graduated from its international partner universities and homegrown Hamad Bin Khalifa University, in fields including medicine, engineering, art and design, communications, international affairs, computer sciences, Islamic studies, law and public policy, humanities and social sciences, and business. (QNA)