The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has witnessed the annual closing ceremony of the training year 2020/2021, organized by the Information Technology Institute (ITI) under the theme “Egyptian Young Calibers Qualified for Future Professions” at the Grand Celebration Hall at Cairo University.
The ceremony highlighted the ITI achievements made in the adoption and development of programs and disciplines that serve to develop the skills most in demand in the global market, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), information security, Internet of Things (IoT), data analysis, multimedia and electronic games. Also, the number of graduates was reviewed, which amounted to about 6000 graduates and trainees through direct training programs. In addition, the training content was made available, where more than 240,000 beneficiaries accessed this training content through the ITI digital platform for e-learning “Mahara Tech'.
In his speech, the ICT Minister stressed that the world is witnessing enormous shifts in the size of their impact and the challenge in their implementation because of the consequences of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the emergence of technologies with a wide impact such as AI, IoT, cloud computing and the Fifth Generation (5G), which has had implications for the labor market.
Certain reports indicated that more than 85 million jobs are expected to disappear, around the world until 2025 in return for creating about 100 million new jobs, related to innovation and creativity, as humans will remain the core of civilization no matter how technology develops. He also highlighted the importance of harnessing technology to serve the society.
Talaat added that AI is expected to contribute up to 25% of world output within a few years; this requires the necessity of integrating this technology into successful systems. He also pointed out that the pandemic contributed to accelerating the pace of demand for technology, which led to reliance on remote methods of working, learning and social communication, as these mechanisms are expected to continue even after the pandemic ends.
Talaat pointed out that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has doubled the training budget 22 times over three years, as the number of trainees increased from four thousand trainees in 2018/2019 with a budget of 50 million pounds to reach 200 thousand trainees with a budget of one billion and 100 million pounds in the current fiscal year. He also pointed out that MCIT is plementing a plan to deploy Creativa Innovation Hubs in all governorates with the aim of deploying training, creative thought, incubators and business accelerators in all governorates. Six hubs have already been established and ten new hubs are being built and will start to operate by 2022.
In the concluding part of his speech, Talaat called upon young graduates to deepen their knowledge, keep pace with technological development and acquire personal skills required in the global labor market, such as teamwork skills, creative thought and how to accept different cultures.
Talaat also honored the first graduates from the ITI diverse training grants in various governorates.
The ceremony witnessed a review of the ITI plan within the framework of MCIT vision, which is the core of skills and one of the most important pillars of its strategy to build Digital Egypt. The ITI plan included the adoption of blended learning mechanisms through direct training programs, including professional training, intensive training for graduates, summer training camps for university students and the provision of knowledge and content through its distance learning platform (Mahara Tech) WWW.MAHARATECH.GOV.EG. Mahara Ttech provides professional awareness services for Egyptian young people, training in the latest topics through rich content provided by global platforms and Egyptian experts. This is in addition to a package of partnerships with a number of technology companies in the areas of information security, open-source software, quality assurance and testing, cloud computing and other disciplines with rapid demand.
The ITI plan also included launching a new initiative aimed at creating a base of certified trainers (Tech Ambassadors) in disciplines with rapid and modern demand to serve the geographical expansions that the ITI contributes to through its presence in Creativa Innovation Hubs.
The ceremony also reviewed the new partnerships concluded by the ITI with a number of major global companies this year to support its specialized academies, including the partnership with the global company Apple regarding the ITI Academy in (App Development) in its various branches. Apple praised the adoption of ITI as the first accredited training center in Africa, which is a natural result of the ITI Academy’s efforts in preparing more than 500 specialists, in Apple’s IOS technologies, who represent a rich base that can be built upon to provide many expert trainers in this area. This is in addition to the accredited trainers at the ITI and the training environment that has been approved by Apple within the ITI Academy, which is planned to be deployed in its branches in CREATIVA Innovation Hubs.
In addition, the partnership with the global company RedHat was noted, which is concluded in open-source software and its technologies that the ITI adopts in all its academies, such as data analysis, software development and system testing. More than 60 trainers have received RedHat’s approved certificates in a short time since the beginning of cooperation this year, in addition to making the company’s electronic content available on the ITI electronic platform. This is in addition to a partnership with the French School of Engineering and Computer Science (EPITA) to design and implement a joint training program in AI that lasts nine months and currently has 420 students.
The ITI Academy specialized in information security was also highlighted. It provided training services to hundreds of specialists in the disciplines of SOC, Pentesting, infrastructure, digital evidence and malware and concluded many partnerships with global companies specialized in the labor market within the last two years, including Fortinet. For his part, Fortinet Country Manager in Egypt Khaled Fawzy pointed out the most important achievements made through cooperation with the ITI in a short time by making the educational content of Fortinet available on the ITI platform for e-learning.
The Ceremony also included a presentation of models of the work of hundreds of graduates from the ITI, including some of the works of graduates of the Academy of Design and Digital Arts and the Academy of Electronic Games to illustrate the extent of their presence and influence in private sector companies, in which they work with the latest professional titles, such as VFX Compositor, Game Developer, Game Artist and XR Developer. Among these was the presentation of the contributions of ITI graduates to the artistic works presented in the Egyptian and global media this year through a short film presented by representatives from the American companies Studio 1336 and Mercury Visual Solutions.
The ceremony also highlighted the high employment rates of ITI graduates in the companies, in which the graduates work as well as the partnerships supporting these new disciplines. In addition to the main indicator on which the ITI relies in terms of the employment rates of its graduates, the ceremony highlighted a new harvest indicator that was developed by ITI, which is the self-employment indicator that was considered a basic indicator in all the grants and that encourages the trainee to have a project on one of the self-employment platforms from a client anywhere in the world with a financial return and global experience with the help of ITI trainers, staff and former graduates.
In this context, the harvest and returns that more than 90% of graduates obtained for themselves from all governorates were an incentive for the ITI to set a greater indicator for the next year. The ceremony shed light on a number of graduates from the faculties of computer and information, applied arts, sciences, commerce, Al Alsun and from the governorates of Cairo, Mansoura, Minya and Assiut, as well as the ITI methodology in supporting these young people and maximizing the output in the coming years.
For her part, ITI Chairperson Heba Saleh Heba Saleh pointed out that what has been achieved by the ITI this year reflects the accumulation of the institutional work and experience of integrated work teams working towards achieving a goal and a mission. It is a working methodology that recognizes, adopts and live the challenges of rapid development, at the level of selecting partnerships related to achieving a real impact for developing programs and content and adopting learning mechanisms for accessibility and to keep pace with the skills and expectations of new generations to come. She also stated that the support provided by the ICT Minister Amr Talaat and his vision for the role of young talents in this industry promoted the continuation of the ITI mission and was a motivator and catalyst for development to reach out more beneficiaries and provide greater numbers of grants for the next training year.
