Ain Shams University launches the "up-skill program" to develop the skills of students and teaching assistants

Prof. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of Ain Shams University, on Monday 10/7, witnessed the launch of the activities of the "up skill program" to develop the skills of university students and teaching assistants, in the presence of Prof. Abdel Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Ayman Saleh, Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research, Prof. Ghada Farouk, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, Prof. Shahira Samir, Executive Director of the International Relations and Academic Collaboration Sector, and under the supervision of Prof. Nevin Assem, Director of the Training and Development Center, Dr. Ahmed Abdel Aziz, Director of the ASU Career Center, Dr. Weam Mahmoud, Deputy Director of the ASU IHub Center.

The program, which is organized by the ASU Career Center in cooperation with the ASU IHub Center and the Training and Development Center at the university, aims to provide students with the skills and capabilities to compete in the labor market and qualify them for future jobs.

In his speech, Prof. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of the University, thanked those in charge of the innovation department at the university (the ASU IHub Center - the ASU Career Center - the Training and Development Center) for the efforts made to carry out their role in an optimal manner, praising their work in a beautiful harmony aimed at providing students, teaching assistants, faculty staff and workers with many different skills.

He added that all students and teaching assistants must be included in the training programs, so the program will be repeated at a specific date and announced to ensure that the largest possible number of students can benefit from this distinguished program.

Prof. Abdel-Fattah Saoud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs, confirmed that the three centers participating in the program are houses of expertise in the university, and the education sector and students have benefited greatly from their experiences, calling on all faculties and sectors of the university to cooperate with them and benefit from their expertise.

His Excellency also spoke about the "Governance" project in cooperation with the Department of Innovation and training of employees in the sector through the Training and Development Center to raise the skills of the university's employees.

Prof. Ayman Saleh, Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research, explained that the upskill program is one of the distinguished activities of the innovation department at the university, adding that this program and other similar programs have a positive impact on the competition of university students in the field of the labor market, in addition to its contributions to the international classification file of the university.

It will also contribute to the maturity of participating researchers and students and will create a different view for them about what they study or what they do in terms of research, and create a competitive perspective that the country needs in its development plans.

Prof. Ghada Farouk, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, confirmed that the graduates of the faculties of Ain Shams University are at the highest level of education, and this program will contribute to refining their experiences and presenting them in a distinctive way to the labor market.

And Dr. Ahmed Abdel Aziz, Director of the ASU Career Center, gave an introductory presentation on the project, which will last for three months, during which he explained that the pillars of project design were based on the strategies of fourth-generation universities, Egypt's Vision 2030, and the needs of the labor market.

He added that through the project, the Employment Center aims to enable 1,200 university students to become qualified cadres for the labor market by building their personal and social skills, their capabilities for innovation, entrepreneurship, scientific research and employment skills, as well as giving them the required vocational guidance to be able to choose the career path that suits them. with their skills and abilities.

He added that if students choose to become entrepreneurs, they will be supported through the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, as the center aims to build creative thinking skills to help them establish start-up companies by empowering them with entrepreneurship skills.

Dr. Ahmed Abdel Aziz explained that in order to design the project, the Ain Shams University Employment Center team conducted extensive research to create the program framework. The team relied on the McKinsey survey (which was based on suggestions from 18,000 people in 15 countries about national skills in the future of employment) as well as on the World Economic Forum's 2020 Future of Jobs Report which highlights the top 10 job skills needed for 2023.

In her speech via video conference, Prof. Nevin Assem said that the Training and Development Center, through the project, aims to provide 100 members of the teaching assistants (lecturers - assistant teachers) at Ain Shams University with the skills of active learning strategies, self-development, internationalization skills, how to present projects and provide a special program for personal skills.

Her Excellency also indicated that each trainee will be granted a certificate for the program as a whole, in addition to certificates valid for promotion, at the end of the program.

The first five trainees will also be enrolled in a training program to prepare them as future leaders, funded by the Center, through mentoring and coaching sessions.

Prof. Nevin Assem indicated that the program, in its current session, aims to help the teaching assistants to achieve a real investment in our human resources and to qualify them and develop their capabilities as leaders for the future, pointing out that the door for submission to participate in the program will be open until August 5, and all details will be announced and progress links announced.

Dr. Weam Mahmoud for the vision of Prof. Mahmoud El-Meteini, since his Excellency assumed the presidency of the university, which is how to provide a complete and distinguished service to students until graduation, so that the university becomes one of the fourth generation universities. Therefore, third and fourth year students from the university’s faculties were targeted, directed, built their skills, adopted their proposals, made them a product that can be manufactured, and turned the problem into real opportunities through Putting the experiences gained from companies as part of their curriculum.

She pointed out that 1,200 students are participating in the program in successive courses over a period of three months, the duration of each course is three weeks, to qualify them for the labor market, in addition to training 450 students on entrepreneurship. The program, in its current session, also aims to develop the skills of 100 teaching assistants.