With almost half of its fast-growing population under 20 years of age, Egypt faces a tremendous challenge in providing quality education and job opportunities to its citizens. In addition to limited economic resources and an underdeveloped infrastructure, the country also has had to overcome a lack of coordination among public- and private-sector educational institutions. Furthermore, the owners and managers of small companies, which make up 90 percent of Egypt’s business community, do not generally have access to business education and training through the education system.

A Model for Education Transformation

To improve education delivery through the use of IT and advanced technologies, and to assist the Egyptian government in achieving its vision of education as a driver for social and economic development, the Egypt Education Initiative (EEI) was launched by the government in partnership with the World Economic Forum in May 2006 as part of the Global Education Initiative. The EEI partnership now includes eight corporations, three international organizations, and approximately 30 local companies. Under the aegis of the Global Education Initiative, the EEI is moving beyond Egypt’s borders by serving as a model for educational reform in other developing countries.

The initiative focuses on four areas: pre-university education, higher education, lifelong learning, and developing the e-learning industry in Egypt. To date, EEI has completed about 70 percent of its infrastructure objectives, including delivering more than 39,000 PCs to schools, connecting 1120 schools to broadband, installing learning laboratories in 18 universities, and training more than 109,000 teachers and administrators in IT fundamentals.

How Cisco Is Making a Difference

Approximately 13,000 students have taken Cisco CCNA courses since the first Cisco Networking Academy in Egypt opened its doors to students in 2001. In 2007 the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research began integrating academy courses into all engineering and computer science colleges and technology institutes across the country. As of July 31, 2008, there were 409 active Networking Academy sites in Egypt with more than 10,000 students enrolled, a 306 percent year-over-year growth rate. Thirty-six percent of these students were women. In addition, 10 Engineering and Computer Sciences Universities have completed their CCNA Instructors’ Training.

Cisco has contributed Networking Academy curriculum and course materials for iExec Business Essentials, a leadership and management workshop that helps small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) become more competitive and innovative in their operations. The iExec Business Essentials course covers the fundamentals of IT and teaches students how to develop strategies for an effective IT business deployment. At the end of the class, each student creates an IT business case or proposal for use in the student’s business.

Working with Egypt’s E-Learning Competence Center and the Accenture Development Partnership, Cisco translated the Business Essentials training into Arabic and localized the program so the Egyptian audience would find it more relevant and compelling. Cisco enhanced the curriculum by increasing interactivity, incorporating local case studies, and piquing student interest by weaving a narrative through the curriculum. EEI’s goal is to enroll 3000 business owners in the course in 2008, and 10,000 before the end of 2009.