British Ambassador Hails Higher Education Ministry Delegation's Visit to UK

Under the UK funded “Higher Education for Career Guidance and Employability” Programme, Egyptian Minister of Higher Education Dr Ayman Ashour led a top-level delegation of Egyptian higher education leaders to the UK, including his Advisor on Strategic Planning and Employability, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Universities, and 7 Egyptian university presidents. 

The visit aims to showcase innovative approaches that UK universities are embracing to boost their graduates’ skills and workplace readiness, linking higher education outcomes with employability.

During the two-day visit, the Minister and the delegation met university professors, experts and practitioners of student employability to discuss curricula design and development while focusing on work-based learning, experiential learning and enterprise education.

They also visited the campuses of University College London (one of top 10 universities in the world), as well as London Interdisciplinary School to see first-hand their higher education systems and the values of embedding partnerships with employers in the design of university degree programmes. They also got to see how they design their interdisciplinary programmes based on challenges and real world problems in addition to the role of universities as hubs for student enterprises and business start-ups.

Minister of Higher Education Dr Ashour also met British Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education Robert Halfon to discuss cooperation in higher education.

British Ambassador to Egypt Gareth Bayley said: “This visit is an excellent demonstration of our cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education. I am really pleased that we have this opportunity to showcase to our Egyptian partners UK best practice in linking higher education to employability, from learning to earning. I know that this is a big priority for the Egyptian Government. And I hope that this visit can play its part in this important agenda. It marks another sign of our commitment to supporting Egypt’s higher education agenda.”

Accompanying the Egyptian Minister for Higher Education were:

· Dr Mostafa Rifat Ahmed Ismail, Secretary General, Supreme Council of Universities

· Dr Ayman Farid Hamza, Assistant Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research for Strategic Planning and Employability

Dr Mahmoud El Meteny, President of Ain Shams University

· Dr Abdelaziz H. Qonsowa, President of Alexandria University.

· Dr El-Sayed Abdel-Azim El-Sakka, President of Suez University

· Dr Moustafa Attia, President of Sohag University

· Dr Sherif Khater, President of Mansoura University

· Dr Ahmed El-Minshawy, President of Assiut University

Dr Esameldin Farahat, President of Minya University

This visit was facilitated by the programme’s implementing partners Advance HE, in cooperation with the International Labour Organization, iCareer, Al Alfi Foundation and the British Embassy in Cairo.