Tunisia's 2026-2030 Development Plan: Improving Higher Education Quality and Graduate Employability

Tunisia is set to implement a comprehensive development plan for 2026-2030, focusing on significant reforms to elevate the quality of higher education and improve the job prospects for graduates. The initiative aims to bridge the gap between academic training and the demands of the labor market.

Key reforms include modernizing the legal framework for private higher education institutions, revising establishment criteria, and strengthening mechanisms for diploma recognition and equivalence to ensure educational quality. To enhance graduate employability, the plan emphasizes integrating linguistic, digital, and transversal skills into curricula. It also involves updating course offerings, particularly in growing sectors like technology, the green economy, and environmental studies, with increased input from economic stakeholders in program development.

The plan also prioritizes fostering student entrepreneurship through support for the "Student Entrepreneur" program and the development of university incubators. Furthermore, it seeks to improve university infrastructure and student services, establish a digital platform for psychological support, and bolster efforts to combat violence and cybercrime within academic settings.

Internationally, Tunisia plans to establish a dedicated agency to attract more foreign students. Universities will also gain greater autonomy in managing their financial resources. By 2030, the goal is to increase the proportion of accredited academic programs to 25%, up from 12.9% in 2025. As of 2025, Tunisia had 295 higher education institutions, serving 324,000 students, with 71,000 graduates that year.