Egypt, Japan Meet On Fostering Technical Education Cooperation

Prime Minister of Egypt, Mostafa Madbouli, says the government attaches great importance to technology education.

He revealed this during a meeting with Japan’s National Institute of Technology (KOSEN) to discuss how to promote mutual cooperation.

Launched in 1962, the Japanese “KOSEN” formal education system sought to provide students with in-depth technical knowledge and skills, thus cultivating the abilities required in their professional fields.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat, Presidential Adviser for National Security Faiza Abou el-Naga, former minister of higher education Hani Hilal, and Secretary General of the Education Development Fund Ahmed Al-Hayawi attended the meeting.

The premier noted that Egypt now has three specialized technological universities, and several more are still under construction nationwide,.

According to Cabinet Spokesman Nader Saad, the meeting discussed lessons learned from other countries’ experience in applying the KOSEN program, especially in Thailand and Vietnam.

It also tackled the mechanisms of future cooperation with Japan to apply the KOSEN program in Egypt, given the country’s need of highly skillful workers.

The first 12 KOSEN colleges were founded in 1962, and the number increased to 43 by 1965 in response to a strong demand from the industrial sector to foster engineers who sustained the high Japanese economic growth in the wake of World War II.