By : Basel Khaled - Mohamed El Kholy
Aiming at attracting more business process outsourcing companies to Egypt, the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) has launched a new language training initiative to support higher education students in Upper Egypt to master the German language.
ITIDA, in cooperation with Goethe-Institut in Cairo, has already announced the program’s pilot phase, which will be implemented with the South Valley University to train 100 students from the second and third academic years.
ITIDA’s CEO, Amr Mahfouz, noted: “The program serves our strategic pillar of building the Egyptian citizen; where ITIDA is currently focusing on expanding its language training programs, especially, the English, German and French languages, to qualify young learners to the global business services market, thus creating a wide base of competitive Egyptian calibers in ICT related specializations”.
“The program is designed to increase the competitiveness of Upper Egypt governorates in the offshoring and call center services, through continuously training students and equipping them with in-demand skills, to build and maintain a talent pool, which in its role will lure international companies to invest in these governorates, provide many jobs opportunities for young people.”, Mahfouz added.
The courses are scheduled to commence during this summer vacation via integrated online learning and will help improve language learners’ level from the beginner’s (A1) to the advanced level (B2). The Goethe-Institut in Cairo will provide scientific and linguistic lecturers based on the educational requirements of each level of the three levels offered by the program.
The Students will get a certificate upon the conclusion of each course level, as well as a detailed record of grades from Goethe-Institut in Cairo. Besides, graduates will be linked to job opportunities available in global delivery centers, which offer not less than EGP10k as an average monthly salary.
The program is funded mainly by the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) where students pay a contribution percentage, as per their previous academic year’s grade (GPA) before applying.