Mohammed Abu Zaid

Cairo: Egypt is stepping up cooperation with Japan to promote technical education in its schools and universities, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced.

In a meeting with top officials on Sunday, the prime minister discussed ways of cooperation in the field of technical education, through the Japanese technological education system KOSEN.

This is in continuation of the existing joint cooperation between the two sides in regard to Japanese schools and universities in Egypt, said a Cabinet statement.

The coming period will witness coordination with the Japanese side in order to start implementing the joint program in the field of technical education, the prime minister confirmed.

Cooperation with the Japanese is a very good model, he noted.

Mostafa Madbouly said that the government attaches great importance to technological education.

The prime minister said that the current period is witnessing the implementation of a number of specialized technical universities around Egypt, in addition to the three that had already been established.

The KOSEN education system accepts students from the age of 15, and provides education based on practical training for a period of 5 years.

The educational system in these colleges focuses on experience and the practice of manufacturing processes practically from an early age.

Graduates of these colleges are expected to play an important role in the field of research and development around the world.

Nader Saad, the official spokesman for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, explained that the KOSEN education system was founded in 1962 in Japan through the establishment of 12 colleges specialised in technical education.

This came about to meet the needs of Japanese factories for technical labor of various degrees, to meet the demand of their economic growth in the aftermath of the Second World War II. Forty-two other colleges were established between 1963 and 1974, 

The meeting also discussed experiences with the KOSEN system outside Japan, using Thailand and Vietnam as examples, which relied on strong partnerships with the governments of the two countries.

The meeting focused on the expected cooperation mechanisms between the two sides and the entity that will represent Egypt in implementing this program.

The meeting also touched upon that cooperation with the Japanese side in the field of technical education comes within the framework of the industrial sector’s need in Egypt for highly skilled labor, drawing similarities to the scenario that existed in Japan that led to the founding of the system.