USM-MCIT TO COLLABORATE IN ENHANCING SKILLS OF EGYPTIAN TALENTS TO SUPPORT ITS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AGENDA
PENANG, 7 March 2022 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is proud to be chosen as the preferred university to collaborate with the Egyptian Government via its Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), in providing the required training need for capacity-building under the Digital Egypt Builders Initiative (DEBI).
The partnership was sealed through a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signing ceremony held virtually via Microsoft Teams video conferencing application, in part due to restrictions on international travel brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The programme was formulated together with the input of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and advice from leading data scientists in Malaysia, with the aim of churning out students who possess hybrid skills; Business and Management, Statistics and Programming.
The Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) and ITIDA have embarked on a new capacity-building initiative to enhance skills of professionals and newly-graduated students to support its digital transformation projects and improve the Egyptian youths' ability to compete in the international labour market.
USM Vice-Chancellor Professor Dato’ Dr. Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan said, USM has always placed quality education at the forefront, thus USM will ensure the quality of the programme offered to enhance the digital and analytical skills of top Egyptian talents to support its digital transformation agenda.
“USM has been selected to offer the Master of Business Analytics for the Financial Technology track programme as requested by DEBI. The Master of Business Analytics offered by the USM School of Management is the first of its kind in Malaysia and has received recognition by MDEC as the first Business Analytics programme that is offered by the Management Faculty,” he said.
Faisal Rafiq further added that the programme has received an overwhelming response, not just from Malaysian top graduates and professionals but also from other parties in China, Libya, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the Ambassador of Malaysia to Egypt, His Excellency Zamani Ismail said that USM is one of the top five research universities in Malaysia with a strong standing in Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, as USM is ranked 39th in the world for its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda and USM is also ranked 1st in Malaysia in the Global University Employability Rankings in 2020.
“Today, the bilateral ties and cooperation between our two countries is certainly beneficial and we hope that this educational partnership with USM would be the beginning of many fruitful collaborations between Malaysia and Egypt,” said Zamani.
Zamani added that, the Malaysian Embassy strongly encourages and supports this form of initiative and would like to congratulate both parties, DEBI and USM for realising this significant government to government collaboration.
Additionally, the Minister of MCIT, His Excellency Dr. Amr S. Talaat said that it was a pleasure for both embassies in setting the new work streams that would enlarge this cooperation, in hoping for more fruitful cross-country initiatives to be realised in the future.
“In the long run, this will help Egypt to build its nationwide capacity in modern technologies, including financial technology,” he said.
Also present were the Assistant Minister of Growth and Development and ITIDA CEO, Eng. Amr Mahfouz; Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Malaysia, H.E. Ragai Tawfik Said Nasr; Minister Advisor of Asian Affairs, Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Ayman Kamel; Minister Advisor for Technology Talents Development, DEBI, Dr. Hoda Baraka; Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academic and International, Professor Dato’ Dr. Narimah Samat; representatives from MCIT, DEBI, Minister of Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE), TIEC and officials from USM.
Text: Nur Farrah Ezlin Mohd Suhaimi/Editing: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin
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