Two surveys was developed in Jordan and Lebanon to study current knowledge and skill gaps between companies’ requirements and IT graduates acquired skills. The Questionnaire for the surveys was prepared by colleagues from the University of Dubrovnik and commented by the Project Management team. The surveys were conducted online.

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In Jordan: A sample of one hundred and six (106) companies were selected randomly almost all located in Jordan with 52% of them having been established after 2010. The survey was carried out during September, October, and November 2020, mostly with either the HR manager or a member of staff of his/her department accounting for 36.8% of respondents. Other respondents were either the CEO, General Manager or the owner of the company.  Some features of companies in the sample were: more than 90% are located in Amman, 40% are partnerships, and 72% are domestically owned; around two-thirds of the sample consisted of small (5-20) and medium (21-100) sized companies; 78% of companies had hired university IT graduates in the past three years and these included companies in all size groups. Public announcements, recommendations from friends as well as graduates approach were the most frequent means of hiring IT graduates. 62% of the companies in the sample had offered internships to university IT students or graduates and had participated in university events.

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In Lebanon: A sample of one hundred (100) companies have been selected randomly all located in Lebanon and two-thirds (67%) of them having been established post 1990. The survey was carried out during September and October 2020, mostly with either the HR manager or a staff of his/her department accounting to 58% of respondents. The other 42% were either the CEO, General Manager or the owner of the company.  Worth highlighting is the profile of companies in the sample: 65% are located in Beirut, 56% are individual proprietorships, and 83% are domestically owned. Half of the sample consisted of small sized companies employing 10 to 49 employees. Overall 80% had hired IT graduates during the past three years. All companies, irrespective of their sizes (number of employees) had hired IT graduates equally in the past three years. Public announcements and outreach to career centers were the most frequent means of hiring IT graduates. Only half the companies in the sample had offered internships to university IT students or graduates.

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