The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat and the Chairman of the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) Abdel Moneim Al-Tarras have witnessed, through videoconference, the signing of an international cooperation agreement between AOI and the Ecole pour l'Informatique et les Techniques Avancées (EPITA). The aim is to qualify trainers and launch a graduate diploma program in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT).
The agreement targets leveraging the French experience in AI, within the framework of the Egyptian-French cooperation that witnesses a strategic development at all levels, especially in ICT.
The agreement was signed by the Chairperson of Board at Electronics Factory - AOI Aida El-Sabban and EPITA Managing Director Joel Courtois, in the presence of the Deputy Ambassador of Egypt to France Amr El-Rashidi, the Advisor to the ICT Minister for AI Golestan Radwan and the Director of International Programs at EPITA Rabih Haddad.
The five year agreement aims to develop a joint educational program between MCIT and EPITA and create an effective knowledge transfer system through training and qualifying 160 Egyptian trainees on the AI graduate diploma curricula. Pursuant to the agreement, nominated trainers from MCIT will teach the complete diploma curricula that will be available through the Information Technology Institute (ITI).
The ICT Minister stated that the cooperation agreement reflects MCIT keenness to establish international partnerships for transferring knowledge and building the capacities of the Egyptian youth in advanced technologies, particularly AI and data science, to help keep up with the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and contribute to carrying out building Digital Egypt projects. The agreement is also within the framework of the national strategy for AI that will help qualify specialized calibers in AI and develop practical solutions using this technology to overcome the challenges that the Egyptian society faces.
The Egyptian government gives high priority to capacity building, said Talaat, adding that MCIT is keen to implement its strategy through which it seeks to make Egypt a leading country in ICT and provide specialized training to qualify young calibers in the latest digital technologies to meet the needs of the local market and boost its competitiveness in global markets. He thanked AOI for its efforts in signing the agreement for MCIT.
Al-Tarras highlighted AOI keenness, in coordination with MCIT, to implement the directives of President Abdel Fattah el Sisi for implanting IT and capacity building in AI, data science and Internet of Things (IoT), to meet the State’s needs and support its efforts in digital transformation and AI, according to the national strategy for AI. He said that the agreement entails carrying out a nine month graduate diploma program in AI, targeting transferring the French expertise to a number of Egyptian trainers, for MCIT, to train human calibers later in this field.
Moreover, Al-Tarras underlined that AOI, through its factories and different production units, is keen on training its engineers and technicians on the latest digital transformation and industrial digitization means, through collaborating with the world’s major companies, academic institutions and universities. AOI is also eager to meet young Egyptians’ needs to overcome the challenges of an ever-changing digital world, especially amid the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, to implement Egypt’s Vision 2030 for sustainable development.
For his part, El-Rashidi stated that the Egyptian ICT sector is one of the most significant sectors, attracting French investments. The agreement will help qualify calibers in data science and AI, added El-Rashidi, referring to the ICT Minister’s visit to France, last September, including intense discussions with the French side on cooperating to fulfill the Egyptian strategy for achieving the digital transformation. El-Rashidi commended MCIT efforts to create a robust AI industry to accelerate the digital transformation.
EPITA Managing Director Joel Courtois said he was pleased to sign the agreement that aims to establish a long term collaboration for transferring knowledge to Egyptian trainers in technology and developing the young Egyptians’ skills. He referred to EPITA success story, spanning 35 years, in education, based on developing constantly and helping trainees keep up with industry developments and scientific research.
Pursuant to the agreement, EPITA will provide the curricula for the diploma tailored to meet the needs of the Egyptian market. The diploma includes three three-month academic semesters, with each containing 240 hours of academic activities: 120 hours of courses and 120 of tutorials and projects. The first semester represents the foundation level; it includes all necessary courses in mathematics and programming, for honing students’ technical skills.
The second is the excellence level, comprising basic AI courses, including Machine Learning (ML), deep Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), computer vision and others. The third semester is known as the work readiness level; it entails practicing and providing information on how to establish and implement the outputs of the first and second levels in real-life projects.
EPITA was founded in 1984. Its educational system is based on teaching students the fundamentals of engineering and equipping them with the highest levels of expertise in computer science and ICT. EPITA has institutional partnerships with international companies, including Google, Microsoft, SAP, Siemens and Facebook. Around 96% of EPITA students find jobs before graduation.
