Minister of Communications and IT Dr. Tarek Kamel and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr. Hani Helal co-signed a cooperation protocol agreement today on carrying out the second phase of the Egyptian Education Initiative (EEI).
The protocol, which costs LE 60 million, comes about within a strategy focusing on developing the usage of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools in higher education, on the educational, research or administrative levels.
The terms of agreement between the two ministries include establishing infrastructural projects like upgrading the information networks of colleges and equipping universities with video-conference facilities. Also a number of projects on e-learning will be carried out including e-content development labs, accrediting IT clubs in universities to be used for e-learning, research institutes as e-learning labs, a PC for every student and professor initiative and facilitating e-curricula.
The agreement also facilitates ICT training programs provided by leading international ICT companies, training third year engineering and ICT students on advanced technologies.
MCIT had contributed to the development of higher education in Egypt through the protocol signed between the two ministries. The first phase involved building a unified network of higher education and scientific research, Egypt’s Science and Technology Portal, ICDL certificates and the equipment of 315 IT clubs at universities and research institutes.
EEI's higher education track kicked off in May 2006 covering the fields of training and e-learning as well as the upgrade of the infrastructure of the Unified Supreme Council of universities network as an initial phase.
EEI is a public-private partnership between the government of Egypt and the World Economic Forum's IT members community. The initiative supports Egypt's overall education reform efforts and maximizes the potential for collaborative Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to achieve its goals.
