Higher level vocational education and training (VET) programmes are facing rapid change and intensifying challenges. This report on Egypt examines what type of training is needed to meet the needs of a changing economy, how programmes should be funded, how theyshould be linked to academic and university programmes and how employers and unions can be engaged. The country reports in this series look at these and other questions. They form part of Skills beyond School, the OECD policy review of postsecondary vocational education and training.

Egypt is going through a major political transition. It will need to manage that transition in ways that bring about greater cohesion in the Egyptian society and greater capacity to build a more competitive and sustainable economy. Effective education is the key to both these challenges.
This report seeks to understand the nature of the challenges ahead for Egypt and to inform decision makers with insights derived from the development of policies and practices elsewhere.

In recent years, the Government of Egypt has driven major reforms for modernising the country. However, Egypt's higher education system has remained largely unchanged and without fundamental reform of the sector the country will face difficulties in improving its competitiveness. This independent review of Egypt's higher education system focuses on areas in need of attention by policy makers and stakeholders, including system steering and institutional governance; student access to higher education; educational quality and effectiveness; research, development and innovation; and finance. It contains an analysis of the system and valuable recommendations which, taken together, represent a major programme of structural and cultural reform of Egyptian higher education over the decade to 2020.