Egypt Signs Agreements with Italy to Launch 100 Applied Technology Schools

Egypt has signed cooperation agreements with Italy to establish 100 Applied Technology Schools across several specialisations from the beginning of the next academic year, Education Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif said.

The announcement came during a meeting in New Alamein attended by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Abdel Latif.

President El-Sisi called for further reforms across Egypt’s education system, building on recent progress to improve educational standards and prepare students for changing labour-market requirements.

He also stressed the importance of expanding international cooperation and exchanging expertise with countries and educational institutions to benefit from successful global practices.

Abdel Latif said technical education, considered a central component of Egypt’s development plans, currently serves around 2.35 million students across 3,213 specialised schools.

International agreements are expected to increase the number of Applied Technology Schools to nearly 225 by the start of the coming academic year. The planned 100 schools developed with Italy will cover different technical and vocational fields.

The minister said cooperation with Italy and Germany provided successful models for developing education based on technology, innovation and production while equipping graduates with skills required by employers.

He also reviewed Egyptian-German cooperation on technical schools, including a declaration of intent signed with Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The agreement includes the development of Egyptian-German technical schools and the award of German-recognised certificates to graduates.

Egypt has also signed cooperation agreements with the German Agency for International Cooperation to develop, establish and operate 38 Egyptian-German technical schools from the next academic year.

The meeting addressed the ministry’s review of the educational framework for the Egyptian Baccalaureate curriculum in cooperation with the International Baccalaureate Organisation. The work aims to bring the curriculum closer to international standards while preserving Egypt’s national identity.

Abdel Latif also presented cooperation with Japan’s Hiroshima University on the TOFAS assessment for programming and artificial intelligence among first-year secondary students.

The partnership also covers a financial literacy curriculum for second-year secondary students. Programming and artificial intelligence will also be introduced to first-year technical secondary students through Japan’s QUREO platform.

The minister further discussed planned cooperation with Harvard University, particularly in training teachers at the Egyptian Military Academy.