Are Graduates Ready for Work, or Only Qualified for It?

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – August 4, 2026 – Forsa Talent Hub, a new UAE-based venture focused on graduate readiness and the transition from education into professional life, has launched its initial employer research phase across the UAE.

Co-founded by Dr. Soha Chahine alongside a wider founding team, Forsa Talent Hub has been established to investigate a recurring gap within the regional talent continuum, the space between how individuals are prepared academically and how they are expected to think, contribute and operate once they enter the workplace.

Dr. Soha Chahine is an organizational psychologist, multi-venture entrepreneur and the Founder and Managing Director of Forward Training & Consulting. She serves as Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Forsa Talent Hub, leading its strategic direction as the venture begins engaging organizations across the UAE.

As the UAE continues to prioritize education, national talent, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship and future industries, the question of how graduates transition into professional environments is becoming increasingly important.

Students are largely evaluated through academic achievement. Once they enter the workplace, however, their contribution is assessed through a broader set of expectations, including judgment, accountability, communication, adaptability, initiative and professional behavior.

Forsa Talent Hub has been created to examine what happens between those two environments.

“A degree can open the door to an opportunity, but it does not automatically reveal how someone will operate once expectations become professional, ambiguous and consequential,” said Dr. Soha Chahine, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Forsa Talent Hub.

“Before introducing another graduate-readiness framework or assuming that we already understand the problem, we need to listen to the organizations recruiting, onboarding, managing and developing emerging talent. Forsa is beginning with evidence.”

Beginning with the employer perspective

Forsa Talent Hub is currently engaging organizations across the UAE through an employer survey designed to understand how graduate readiness is experienced in the workplace.

The research explores what employers expect graduates to demonstrate when entering professional environments, which capabilities matter most during the early stages of employment and where organizations observe differences between academic preparation and workplace expectations.

It also examines how employers distinguish between academic potential and professional readiness, how graduates are currently supported during onboarding and which expectations are communicated clearly, or remain largely assumed.

The initial research considers questions including:

• What does it mean for a graduate to be genuinely ready to contribute?

• Which capabilities matter most during the transition from university into work?

• Where do employers observe the most significant readiness gaps?

• Which professional behaviors influence early-career contribution?

• How are graduates supported as they enter organizational environments?

• Where do education and employment expectations align, and where do they differ?

This first phase places the employer voice at the center of the research.

Forsa’s future direction will be informed by evidence gathered from organizations rather than by introducing a predetermined model and asking the market to validate it.

“We are not starting with a completed answer and asking organizations to fit inside it,” Dr. Soha Chahine said. “We are starting with the market. The language, direction and future work of Forsa must follow the evidence, not the other way around.”

Connecting two ends of the talent continuum

Dr. Soha Chahine’s decision to co-found Forsa follows more than 15 years of experience across human resources, talent management, organizational culture, behavioral science and leadership development.

Through Forward Training & Consulting, she works with leaders, teams and organizations on the behavioral and organizational conditions influencing decision-making, accountability, culture, leadership and performance.

Her work as an adjunct faculty/instructor at a leading university in the UAE also gives her direct insight into how students think about their future careers, interpret workplace expectations and prepare for the transition from academic life into professional environments.

These two perspectives revealed a recurring disconnect.

Through Forward Training & Consulting, Dr. Soha Chahine sees what organizations expect from people once responsibility becomes real. Through higher education, she sees how students understand the workplace before fully experiencing its expectations.

Forsa Talent Hub emerged at the intersection of those two realities.

“Organizations invest significantly in developing people after they enter the workforce, particularly when they move into management and leadership,” Dr. Soha Chahine said.

“But professional capability does not suddenly begin at promotion. The graduate learning to exercise judgment today may become the manager expected to make difficult decisions tomorrow. The talent journey is one continuum, even when the systems surrounding it remain disconnected.”

Forward Training & Consulting and Forsa Talent Hub are distinct ventures operating at different stages of that continuum.

Forward works within organizations, supporting leadership capability, team effectiveness, behavioral change and organizational performance.

Forsa enters at an earlier stage, examining how emerging talent is prepared for the professional realities it will encounter.

The connection between the ventures reflects a wider belief that human capability should be understood across the full professional journey rather than addressed only when a gap becomes visible.

Looking beyond academic achievement

Forsa’s research explores graduate readiness beyond academic credentials and technical knowledge alone.

It examines how employers experience the transition from education into professional life, including the expectations, behaviors and capabilities that influence how graduates adapt, contribute and grow within the workplace.

At this stage, Forsa is not publishing a predefined readiness framework. The venture is allowing evidence gathered from organizations across the UAE to shape its language, strategic direction and future work.

“Our responsibility is to listen carefully, examine what organizations are experiencing and allow the findings to reveal what genuinely matters,” Dr. Soha Chahine said.

The venture does not position graduate readiness as the responsibility of one party alone.

Universities prepare students through curricula and learning outcomes. Employers recruit, onboard and develop emerging professionals. Students enter the workplace with their own expectations and understanding of what professional contribution requires.

Forsa views graduate readiness as a shared ecosystem conversation involving employers, educational institutions, students and the wider systems through which talent is prepared and developed.

Its current employer research represents the first stage of that conversation.

“The objective is not to blame universities, employers or graduates,” Dr. Soha Chahine said. “It is to make the expectations surrounding professional readiness more visible, so that the different parts of the system can respond more deliberately.”

Supporting a future-ready UAE workforce

Technological disruption and artificial intelligence are continuing to reshape how work is structured, how decisions are made and which capabilities remain distinctly human.

While technical knowledge will remain important, organizations also require people who can adapt, communicate, exercise judgment, take responsibility and contribute effectively within increasingly complex environments.

Forsa aims to support this agenda by generating evidence that can strengthen the conversation between the institutions preparing talent and the organizations receiving it.

The venture is currently inviting UAE-based employers to participate in its graduate-readiness survey and contribute their experience of recruiting, onboarding, managing and developing emerging professionals.

“Forsa means opportunity,” Dr. Chahine concluded. “But an opportunity becomes meaningful only when people are prepared to step into it, understand what it requires and contribute with confidence. That is the gap we are setting out to understand.”

About Forsa Talent Hub

Forsa Talent Hub is a UAE-based, research-led venture focused on graduate readiness and the transition between education and employment.

Beginning with employer research across the UAE, Forsa examines how workplace readiness is understood and experienced across the talent continuum. Its work aims to support a more evidence-led conversation between employers, universities and emerging talent.

About Dr. Soha Chahine

Dr. Soha Chahine is an organizational psychologist, multi-venture entrepreneur and organizational leadership advisor with more than 15 years of experience across human resources, talent management, organizational culture and leadership development.

She is the Founder and Managing Director of Forward Training & Consulting and the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Forsa Talent Hub.

Dr. Soha Chahine is also a TEDx speaker, ICF Professional Certified Coach, adjunct faculty/instructor, global awards jury member and contributor to leading regional business publications.

Media and partnership enquiries

Contact: Raghda Ibraheem

Title: Chief Communications & Media Officer

Email: forsa@forsatalenthub.com

Website: www.forsatalenthub.com