Like many countries, Egypt is adapting to the changing needs of employers by working to prepare a large youth population for indemand jobs – many of which require at least a basic set of tech skills. The public and private sectors are seeking to address the gap between the abilities of graduates and the needs of employers: in 2019 three technology universities were opened in New Cairo City, Quesna and Beni Suef. The institutions offer degrees in IT, mechatronics and autotronics, and power plant operations and maintenance. Around 700 students enrolled in the programmes during the schools’ first year. In a similar vein, in February 2020 the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research signed an MoU with Huawei to provide Egyptian university students with ICT training as part of a long-term partnership.
The government has identified ICT skills and the technical infrastructure of universities as key to developing the digital economy. After schools and universities were closed in mid-March 2020 and schooling had to take place from home, the MCIT launched an e-learning platform in April to enhance digital literacy and facilitate the secure use of the internet. The same month ITIDA launched the Future Work is Digital programme to train a targeted 100,000 young people in advanced IT, data and digital marketing skills through courses designed in collaboration with tech companies. Between May 2020 and March 2021 around 30,000 people graduated from the programme: 35% were women and over 40% resided outside of Egypt’s major cities.
In September 2020 the MCIT launched the Digital Egypt Builders Initiative to build human capital in advanced technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, robotics and automation. By the end of the year the ministry had signed two MoUs with international universities under the programme: the University of Ottawa and the Ohio State University. These moves should help to expand on an already competitive talent pool, as Startup Genome recognises Cairo, in particular, as the one of the top-10 locations for affordable talent globally.
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