Egypt: President El-Sisi Meets Prime Minister, Minister of Higher Education

Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr. Ayman Ashour.

The Spokesman for the Presidency, Counselor Ahmed Fahmy, said President El-Sisi followed-up on the implementation of the state’s plans to improve the quality of university education and link it to the labor market and development needs.

The minister of higher education presented the state’s executive strategy for technological education, including the expansion of the establishment of technological universities to cover all governorates and the development of their systems to keep pace with the successive scientific development.

The President was also briefed on the government’s program to accommodate the rapid increase in the number of university students, as well as international students, and the ongoing efforts in this regard to establish a city for international students to accommodate the increasing numbers.

The President reviewed the developments to activate the Alliance and Development Initiative, which aims to strengthen alliances between the universities and industrial authorities, to set development plans from each governorate, based on linking and integrating the educational process with development needs. The Ministry of Higher Education has allocated one billion Egyptian pounds from donors to activate this initiative.

The meeting also reviewed the developments of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank Initiative. President El-Sisi gave directives to continue activating this initiative, so as to contribute to improving the classification of Egyptian universities, institutions and research centers internationally, and to ensure strengthening the knowledge economy and benefiting from the enormous potential of human capital in Egypt.

The meeting also touched on efforts to develop university hospitals, increase their numbers, provide educational and training programs at the highest levels, and offer modern therapeutic services. The budget of university hospitals was reviewed, which has increased three-fold over the last 10 years to ensure the provision of the best levels of service to citizens.

President El-Sisi gave directives to continue intensive work to raise the quality, efficiency, and competitiveness of university education in Egypt, focus on the quality of the academic output, enhance its developmental component, and link it to economic and development needs. The President also gave directives to provide all support to the existing and new initiatives in the field of higher education, in light of the priority given to the education sector and in a way that reflects positively on achieving the state’s goal to enhance the scientific and cultural formation of the Egyptian human personality, the competitiveness of Egyptian human resources regionally and globally, as well as striving to transform Egypt into an attractive regional destination for distinguished university education, whether through various Egyptian universities, or by expanding the establishment of branches of foreign universities with high international rankings in Egypt.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, The Arab Republic of Egypt.