World TVET Database - Country Profiles

1. TVET mission, legislation and national policy or strategy

TVET mission

Egypt is currently undergoing a democratic transition process. The revolution of 25 January 2011 was a reaction to socio-economic inequities and, among others, youth unemployment. Education is considered an important tool in tackling inequalities and youth unemployment. The following policies guide education and TVET in Egypt.

TVET strategy

The National Strategic Plan for Education (2007/8-2011/12) highlights the following points with regard to TVET:

• Improving the examination and assessment system of technical secondary education;
• integrating specialisations into technical secondary education;
• integrating vocational secondary schools into technical secondary schools; and
• providing innovative models to be the bases for the future technical secondary education.

The Technical Education Strategy (2011/2012 – 2016-17) provides a framework for technical education in Egypt. The Strategy was developed by the Ministry of Education with the aim to establish a technical education system that plays a crucial role in economic and social development by providing high quality education that fosters scientific, creative and critical thinking; learning for life, social values and technical skills.

The Strategy comprises of the following seven strategic goals.

• Improve school infrastructure;
• Raise teaching standards and quality assurance of technical education;
• Increase enrolment in technical education and raise awareness of technical career paths;
• Use information technology to benefit from labour market information and advance technical education programmes;
• Set up cooperation mechanisms, develop decentralisation and self- management, expand innovative systems in technical education and encourage use of capabilities offered by technical education providers;
• Develop continuous education, learning and training; and
• Attract non-traditional and external sources for finance of technical education.

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2. TVET formal, non-formal and informal systems

Scheme compiled by UNESCO-UNEVOC from National Strategic Plan for Pre-University Education Reform in Egypt 2007/8-2011/2012.

Formal TVET system

Compulsory basic education is made up of a primary and a preparatory level. Both state-run and private primary schools fall under the authority of the Ministry of Education (MoE). The primary stage takes six years, while the preparatory level runs for three years. Pupils who pass the final exam at the end of primary school move to preparatory schools while those who fail after two attempts proceed to vocational preparatory schools or withdraw from education.

Based on their performance at preparatory level, students continue in general secondary, technical/vocational secondary or withdraw from education. The general secondary level runs for three years while the secondary vocational track comprises of three- and five-year programmes. There are three fields on the technical/vocational level: industrial, commercial and agricultural.

Tertiary level education is administered by the Ministry of Higher Education. The system comprises of public and private universities, as well as public and private non-university institutions. Non-university institutions are middle technical institutes offering two-year courses and higher technical institutions offering four-year courses. University education trains technical teachers while higher technical schools prepare students for employment in specific industries.

Non-formal and informal TVET systems

TVET training courses are still largely institution-based and bear little relation to the needs of the labour market. In recent years, greater emphasis is being placed on developing industry-related TVET systems that foster local partnerships between industry and training centres. These practices are intended to develop alternative ways of providing practical skills training and will have a clear impact on curriculum reform. Currently, non-formal training includes training through industry attachments such as the dual system and apprenticeships, in-service training and re-training of workers.

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3. Governance and financing

Governance

The key public bodies in charge of TVET are:

• The Ministry of Education (MoE), which administers technical and vocational schools; and
• The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), which is in charge of middle technical institutes.

The Egyptian Government and the European Union cooperate on the TVET Reform Programme which aims to strengthen the TVET system and adapt it to Egypt’s economic development challenges.

The Programme entails the following three main components:

• The development of decentralised and demand-driven TVET institutions - The reform activities comprised in this section aim to link programmes of private and public TVET institutions to the human resource needs of the private sector enterprises. Reforms are applied at micro/organisational level and are designed to support the Enterprise-TVET-Partnerships (ETP) in selected economic regions of Egypt.
• Improvement of the quality of TVET delivery - The main aim of these reforms is to provide high quality, demand-driven and competency-based TVET training. The activities are conducted at meso/organisational level and focus on modernising skills development in TVET institutions and private-sector enterprises, as well as the introduction of alternative forms of training, including cooperative education.
• Developing National Regulatory and Support Institutions for a decentralised and demand-driven TVET System - These reforms are designed to promote stakeholder consensus on the formulation and application of the TVET reform system and the establishment of a national regulatory body and support structures for the Egyptian TVET system. The activities are aimed at the macro/policy level and centre on harmonising and coordinating TVET reforms.

Financing

The TVET system is financed through:

• Student fees: Secondary TVET education is generally free of charge. Some institutions may charge fees but these revert in their entirety to the Ministry of Finance. Institutions may also support students providing monthly allowances. In most cases, more is invested in a student rather than collected from him/her through tuition fees (Abrahart, 2003).
• Budget allocations: Even though TVET funding is still comparatively low, it has increased in the recent years. “In 2003, for example, the Ministry of Industry and Technological Development secured almost a 25% increase in funding for its training centres. However, most of the increase was for capital investment, the recurrent budget increasing by only 13%, more or less in line with general cost increases” (Abrahart, 2003, p. 9).
• Donors and international partners: Despite government involvement, there is little oversight and coordination of international funding for TVET. Funding is provided through grants and loans to government ministries and through internationally-funded TVET programmes. International donors include: (1) European Union; (2) World Bank; and (3) National governments (Canada, France, Germany, United States, etc.).

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4. TVET teachers and trainers

Teachers in Egypt remain largely underqualified, underpaid and inexperienced. Due to the lack of a monitoring strategy, policies that were developed at ministerial level are often not implemented properly on the ground. The National Strategy for Education Reform which was approved in 2007 lacked monitoring procedures for its teacher recruitment and retention strategy.

A further obstacle to developing an adequate teacher recruitment and retention strategy has been the lack of available data. Teacher recruitment remains particularly difficult in Upper Egypt but clear data on rural and urban areas remains unavailable.

Even though the national strategy for education includes teacher training as one of its priorities, it has not yet introduced systematic, formal induction programmes or accreditation processes.

As a result, teacher training programmes in Egypt are scarce and low standard.

The Ministry of Education actively cooperates with international donors in the field of teacher training but these programmes can only address selected branches of teachers and trainers.

The teachers’ professional development strategy in not high on the government’s agenda, that is why teacher training is fragmented and the result of small-scale initiatives and projects. The steps put forward in the national strategy have been poorly implemented and monitored.

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5. Qualifications and qualifications frameworks

National Qualifications Framework (NQF)

The National Skills Standards Project (NSS) is designed to develop an industry-related qualification framework for the TVET sector. It is cooperation between a consortium of European education organisations and Egypt’s Social Fund for Development. The project focuses on the following aspects:

• industry-related accreditation and qualification system;
• Teacher training in line with European standards; and
• Sustainable policy and management structure.

Quality Assurance

As part of the TVET Reform Programme, the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE), the National Quality Programme and the Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality (EOS) / the Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) are in charge of establishing a national quality assurance programme which is to ensure quality of training, adequately trained teaching staff in line with international standards.

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6. Current and ongoing reforms, projects, and challenges

Current reforms and major projects

The European Training Foundation (ETF) is leading a regional project which promotes cooperation among seven countries of the Mediterranean region (Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, France, Italy, Spain) on standardising qualifications in the fields of tourism and construction. The main aim of the project is to enhance mobility of qualified workers and raising their status the region.

The European Union is actively supporting the TVET Reform Programme which aims to establish partnerships between Government agencies and the public sector, improve the quality of training and develop a system of national regulations.

The Industrial Modernisation Programme is a joint initiative of the European Union and the Egyptian government. Among others, it aims to create more job opportunities for technical and vocational graduates.

The World Bank has invested in a six-year (2004-2010) pilot-project which aimed at implementing a demand-driven training funding mechanism. The Skills Development Project provided funding for private enterprises and training institutions training skilled workers. The project’s main objective was to equip workers with marketable skills and improve the perception of vocational education and training.

The Mubarak-Kohl Initiative (MKI) aims at up-grading vocational education and training in Egypt as per agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and Egypt. The main partners are: The Egyptian Ministry of Education, the investors and businessman association and the German international cooperation enterprise GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit).

MKI Dual System combines the theoretical aspects of technical secondary schools with practical training in the workplace. Students who take the three-year course spend two days a week in a technical secondary school and four days with a company in order to obtain required skills and qualifications. A key factor in the initiative is shared responsibility involved in the cooperation between the private and the public sectors. The objective of MKI-vetEP was to improve interactive employability of young people through training and labour market institutions.

Following MKI-DS and MKI-vetEP, a new employment promotion programme started with the overall objective of developing capacities of the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the private sector. MoE and the private sector are encouraged to implement new approaches in the field of youth employment promotion. Specific objectives are to improve capacities of MoE to address labour market imbalances through coordination of public and private actors. Supported by evidence-based policies, private sector assumes responsibility for implementing models for employment promotion and providing labour market-oriented services to youth while addressing labour market imbalances via innovative approaches.

Migration of Egyptian unaccompanied minors has reached very high levels and is emerging as a new social phenomenon. The objective of the Education and Training of the Egyptian Youth in Fayoum Governorate Project is to create new education and training opportunities for vulnerable Egyptian youth to enhance their employability in Egypt and abroad, through the renovation and upgrade of selected educational/vocational training centres in Fayoum Governorate and the activation of orientation/counselling for local students. The project includes a comprehensive information campaign on national and local level that promotes the importance of education and training as a pathway conducive to socio-economic integration in key destination countries and to raise awareness on activities of the centres.

School-based employment units have been established in eight pilot schools in Alexandria, Port Said and Sharkia through cooperation between the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the USAID-funded Egypt´s Competitiveness Program (ECP). The school-based employment units were established in line with the Ministerial Decree of 13th December 2011, and will provide employment opportunities for technical school students in the food processing, clothing, and tourism sectors. Through agreements with factory owners, students will receive hands-on training and gain real-work experiences in factories that will raise students’ chances of being hired immediately after graduation. The Minister of Education’s Decree highlights the cooperation between MoE and the USAID-funded ECP towards bridging the gap between skills of technical school graduates and qualifications required in the labour market.

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7. Statistical information(*)

(Table compiled by UNESCO-UNEVOC based on UN ESA: World Population Prospects/ the 2010 revision)



(Table compiled by UNESCO-UNEVOC based on World Bank Database)


(Table compiled by UNESCO-UNEVOC based on ILO: Key Indicators of the Labour Market)


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8. Links to UNEVOC centres and TVET institutions

UNEVOC Centres

• Ministry of Education, Technical Education Sector

TVET Institutions

• Technology college
  
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  9. References, bibliography, abbreviations

References

• Abrahart, A. (2003). Egypt Review of Technical Vocational education and Training, DIFID-WB Collaboration on Knowledge and Skills in the New Economy. Washington D.C.: World Bank. Accessed: 08 March 2012.
• European Training Foundation (2012). Qualifications in Euro-Mediterranean Region. Turin: European Training Foundation. Accessed: 08 March 2012.
• Ministry of Education (2012). Introduction for novice teachers – conceptual Framework. Cairo: Ministry of Education. Accessed: 07 March 2012.
• OECD (2008). Country Profile – Egypt. Paris: OECD. Accessed: 06 March 2012.
• OECD (2010). Business Climate Development Strategy - Human Capital, MENA-OECD Investment Programme. Paris: OECD. Accessed: 07 March 2012.
• OECD (2010). Higher Education in Egypt – Review of National Polices for Education. Paris: OECD. Accessed: 07 March 2012.

Further reading

• The Egyptian Observatory for Education
• Portal - The Arabic Gate to TVET
• Regional Cooperation between selected Arab countries in the field of TVET

Abbreviations

ECP - Egypt´s Competitiveness Program

EGAC - Egyptian Accreditation Council

EOS - National Quality Programme and the Egyptian Organisation for Standardisation and Quality

ETF - European Training Foundation

ETP - Enterprise-TVET-Partnerships

MKI - Mubarak-Kohl Initiative

MoE - Ministry of Education

MoHE - Ministry of Higher Education

NAQAAE - National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education

NQF - National Qualifications Framework

NSS - National Skills Standards Project