CAIRO: Ahmed Morsey, 24, holds a degree in computer science from Future Academy, a private university on the Egypt-Ismailia road, where he graduated as one of the top of his class. Since he graduated two years ago, he has been sitting at home, frustrated, because while his grades prove he has the qualifications to work in the IT field, his qualifications are not what the IT field is looking for. "I've applied to more jobs than you can count and I was told the same thing at every place; you need connections to get a job, says Morsey. Morsey is one of hundreds of university graduates whose qualifications simply do not qualify when it comes to employment. While the government has been working on educational reform over the last few years, going so far as to state that they are creating jobs for a country that has too many educated youth on the dole, the jobs being created are not being filled; graduates with talent are not getting hired. Frustrated and angry, they are now demanding the country gets them the jobs they have seemingly created. Such was the case with the Egyptian Junior Businessmen Association (EJB), who found themselves the recipients of three frustrated Aim Shams University (a public university) engineering graduates who could not find jobs in their field. According to Ingy Salem, communications development coordinator at EJB, the plight of the three graduates signified a larger problem: the lack of qualifications graduates hold in order to get, and keep, a job. As a result, the Capacity Building of Egyptian Students initiative was born. Partly funded by USAID and the private sector, the program is giving students the qualifications they need to get a job once they graduate. "After meeting the three graduates, we did our research and found a gap between what companies need and what graduates can offer. While there are many companies who are looking to hire and many graduates looking to be hired, the qualifications needed and the qualifications held did not coincide. Companies wanted employees but found many of them did not have the qualifications, even those with good grades, says Salem. This lose-lose situation has also plagued the private sector, which is becoming increasingly aggravated by the lack of qualified human resources available. Spanning a multitude of industries, from the service to the IT sector, companies find themselves backed into a tight corner; either making due with understaffed departments (which undermines the productivity level, thus the profits of a company), or hiring unqualified individuals and allocating a hefty sum of company resources on training. Both options are unappealing. In an earlier interview with The Daily Star Egypt, Medhat Khalil, CEO and chairman of Raya Holding, stated that while the government, in the form of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications and the Ministry of Administrative Development have been doing a good job in pushing the industry forward, the most important government entity in eradicating this catch-22 issue, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, is not stepping up to the plate. "You [can] bring very good, sophisticated systems to schools, [but] if you don't have the student and teacher who are interested and know how to use this technology then you haven't gained advancement. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications is trying to help educate people, but this is not enough. We have to have a very aggressive Ministry of Education and Higher Education, he says. Although the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has launched a number of trade schools throughout the country, especially in the poorer communities of Egypt, to give youth the qualifications necessary to join the workforce, according to Salem, this initiative has not been very successful because students are resistant to participating in such workshops and training. "Kids complain about these trade schools because they do not want to go to another school once they graduate. Especially the students in Ain Shams, which is a five-year program. Youth want to leave college already qualified, states Salem. On the topic of effective schooling and education, Khalil is extremely passionate. Without effectively educating the up and coming generation, we are not realizing our potential, our key competitive advantage we hold in the region, he emphasizes. "When the percentage of CVs that are submitted to our company would fail the basic English language test, at maybe 80 percent or higher, then I am frustrated. When they don't pass the basic aptitude test, then I am frustrated. What frustrates me is the educational system, the education improvement, which we are not really focusing on so far, says Khalil. After meeting the three unemployed graduates, EJB also grew frustrated. Deciding that it was time to do something about this growing, unsolved issue, EJB launched a program with the engineering department at the university, whereby juniors and seniors partook in a two-year program, taking four training courses each year during the academic year (courses offered at various times during the day to accommodate students' schedules) followed by a full summer internship at various companies, in order to obtain the qualifications needed to eventually get a job once they graduate. "Through our research we found that students were not taking or being offered courses that are considered important in order to get a job once they graduate. In order for an engineer to get a job with a multinational, he or she needs more than just engineering skills. They need business management and presentation skills, skills they are not being taught at university, says Salem. Capitalizing on the extensive business contacts and friendships of its members, EJG has been able to offer Ain Shams engineering students that are part of the program internships with private sector companies such as Procter & Gamble (P&G), Union Air, Olympic, Swedey and Universal. The program, which was launched two years ago, has been so successful that already around 96 percent of P&G trainees have gotten full time jobs with the company after graduation. The success of the program has also caught the eye of EJB's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) committee, which has come to realize that CSR entails supporting and building the future of youth in Egyptian communities. According to Salem, the CSR committee is currently working on bringing this program to other departments in other universities.
