ILO and the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education pledge to cooperate on enhancing the skills needed in the labour market
Third refresher training course on “Implementing and working with enterprises skills surveys”.
Cairo (ILO News)- The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the American University in Cairo (AUC) held a meeting with the University Centers for Career Development (UCCD) staff in several Egyptian public universities on the sidelines of the third refresher training course on “Implementing and working with enterprises skills surveys”. This was held on 5 -7 September 2021 under the “University Centers for Career Development (UCCD)” project, implemented by the AUC in partnership with the ILO and USAID.
In this regard, Mr. Eric Oechslin, Director of the ILO Cairo Office, emphasized in his statement that the ILO is keen through the UCCD project to induce a change in the world of work. This is feasible through enhancing the best use of labour market information in Egypt and helping narrow the supply-demand gap.
Prof. Ayman Ashour, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, stated: “We need data and career tracking studies on university graduates. I stress the significance of surveys with employers and graduates as this is a key activity to access reliable information on the labour market, status of graduates in Egypt, and how to benefit from this information in career guidance and curriculum development”.
“The Ministry is keen to support an integrated eco-system in all the institutions that aim to create job opportunities for university graduates. I am pleased to have attended a UCCD activity, namely, Employers’ Roundtable Discussion at Mansoura University where I had the chance to listen employers’ needs and recommendations. I became more aware of the real role of the centers in creating partnerships between the university and employers,” said Prof. Hesham Farouk, Assistant Minister for Digital Transformation and Head of Higher Education Project Development Unit.
In a related context, Ms. Maha Fakhry, The UCCD Project’s Chief of Party, AUC, clarified that: “The project had witnessed in the past period concrete developments and efforts by the UCCD staff, given that each respective team has been keen to have a positive impact on the skill development of students and graduates”.
From her side, Ms. Heba Rashed, National Project Coordinator of the UCCD Project, ILO, highlighted the project’s key achievements, namely, promoting the capacity of UCCD staff to support compilation, analysis and use of labour market information on career guidance and counselling; conducting regular employers skills surveys and employers’ roundtable discussions; and enhancing the inclusiveness of UCCD services for students with disabilities.
It is noteworthy that 20 staff from 9 career centers attended this training course from six different universities: Alexandria, Mansoura, Beni Suef, Minia, Sohag and Sadat. The overall objectives of the training course are to train UCCD staff to organize, implement and analyze the establishment of skills surveys, and discuss the issues that the staff has faced during the implementation and analysis of previous surveys. In addition, the participants learned how to use the electronic system designed to facilitate data compilation and analysis. The system was activated with the support of the ILO and Labour Market Observatory (LMO) of the Ministry of Higher Education.
In this regard, Mr. Eric Oechslin, Director of the ILO Cairo Office, emphasized in his statement that the ILO is keen through the UCCD project to induce a change in the world of work. This is feasible through enhancing the best use of labour market information in Egypt and helping narrow the supply-demand gap.
Prof. Ayman Ashour, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, stated: “We need data and career tracking studies on university graduates. I stress the significance of surveys with employers and graduates as this is a key activity to access reliable information on the labour market, status of graduates in Egypt, and how to benefit from this information in career guidance and curriculum development”.
“The Ministry is keen to support an integrated eco-system in all the institutions that aim to create job opportunities for university graduates. I am pleased to have attended a UCCD activity, namely, Employers’ Roundtable Discussion at Mansoura University where I had the chance to listen employers’ needs and recommendations. I became more aware of the real role of the centers in creating partnerships between the university and employers,” said Prof. Hesham Farouk, Assistant Minister for Digital Transformation and Head of Higher Education Project Development Unit.
In a related context, Ms. Maha Fakhry, The UCCD Project’s Chief of Party, AUC, clarified that: “The project had witnessed in the past period concrete developments and efforts by the UCCD staff, given that each respective team has been keen to have a positive impact on the skill development of students and graduates”.
From her side, Ms. Heba Rashed, National Project Coordinator of the UCCD Project, ILO, highlighted the project’s key achievements, namely, promoting the capacity of UCCD staff to support compilation, analysis and use of labour market information on career guidance and counselling; conducting regular employers skills surveys and employers’ roundtable discussions; and enhancing the inclusiveness of UCCD services for students with disabilities.
It is noteworthy that 20 staff from 9 career centers attended this training course from six different universities: Alexandria, Mansoura, Beni Suef, Minia, Sohag and Sadat. The overall objectives of the training course are to train UCCD staff to organize, implement and analyze the establishment of skills surveys, and discuss the issues that the staff has faced during the implementation and analysis of previous surveys. In addition, the participants learned how to use the electronic system designed to facilitate data compilation and analysis. The system was activated with the support of the ILO and Labour Market Observatory (LMO) of the Ministry of Higher Education.