When we asked recent graduates where they felt least prepared for the labour market, their answers were familiar: they knew the theory from their studies in the classroom, but not how to use real data; they were unsure what employers expected from them when they made their way into the workplace; and they were unclear how sustainability connected to their jobs. The responses could have come from any cohort at a UK university. Yet these were not graduates here in Lancaster, but rather from the Egypt University of Informatics (EUI) – a different country (even continent) but the same concerns we might expect to find closer to home. These worries have been sharpened by the speed of economic and technological change in Egypt. The country is positioning itself as a regional digital hub under Vision 2030, yet employers echo a global story of shortages in critical thinking, data literacy and problem-solving. One recent assessment suggests 78% of companies struggle to find talent with the right skills, and almost half of the core skills of the Egyptian workforce are projected to change in just five years. How do you equip students for roles that will only exist – if they exist at all – in vastly changed formats by the time they are settled into their chosen careers? BRIDGING THE GAP Against this backdrop, EUI and Lancaster University, funded by the British Council’s Transnational Education grant, designed the iSkills: Career Catalyst Programme. This was an eight-week, four-days-aweek bootcamp for graduates and final year students from across Egypt. The aim was to bridge the gap between academic study and the fast-moving labour market in data and business. We began with the CareerEDGE model of graduate employability, and extended it to reflect emerging needs. The curriculum was built around three pillars. Firstly, data analytics: learners moved from Excel for data analysis to SQL, Python and advanced Power BI, working with real datasets. Secondly, sustainability: colleagues from The 40 |
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