The establishment of Bahrain Polytechnic: Assumptions questioned, myths exposed and challenges faced

To enhance productivity and promote competitiveness in an increasingly globalized economy, Bahrain is striving to ‘build solid and sustainable social, economic and technological bases appropriate to modern times and conditions’ (Oukil, 2012, p. 8). Faced with depleting oil resources and an increasingly competitive trading environment, Bahrain’s national strategy, Economic Vision 2030 (Bahrain Economic Development Board [BEDB], 2014) has suggested means to achieve sustainability through growth and diversification of the economy. An analysis by the Bahrain Economic Development Board ‘highlighted “gaps” both in the provision of education and in the skills required by employers’ (Soman, 2008, para.18). The mismatch between the job market and graduate capability led to high youth unemployment, with one in eight Bahrainis out of work, at a time when two out of every three new jobs were going to expatriates bought in to fill the skill shortages (Polytechnics International New Zealand [PINZ], 2007, Section 3, p.13).