Egypt’s Minister of Emigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram announced, on Sunday, the official launch of the National Strategy for Egyptian Youth Studying Abroad.
The ministry prepared the strategy in cooperation with media expert Noha Al-Nahas, Chairperson of the Board of Directors at 30 Degrees North, to offer strategic advice.
The strategy aims to connect young learners abroad with their homeland, in addition to providing them opportunities for training and work.
Makram said that her ministry had organised 20 camps, including programmes for Egyptian youth studying abroad, focusing on the Egyptian state’s national security issues.
Those programmes were aimed at deepening communication mechanisms between the Ministry of Emigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs and young Egyptians studying abroad.
She said that due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many students who were studying abroad had returned to Egypt. This encouraged her ministry to establish new programmes targeting those youth.
Makram announced the launch of the ministry’s Center for Dialogue for Egyptian youth studying abroad, to be the first lobby for Egyptian youth abroad.
The minister stated that the centre is the first of its kind in Egypt and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region which works to provide multiple services and activities for Egyptians studying abroad and maintain communication with them. The centre aims to target all Egyptians studying abroad, and gather them to support their country cognitively.
She explained that the national strategy for Egyptians studying abroad includes providing a digital library, which presents the latest development process in Egypt. It also gives access to studies and research papers presented by Egyptian youth abroad to benefit from their ideas and experiences.
The centre will also hold digital workshops to encourage youth to participate in building a strong nation based on scientific foundations.
She pointed out that the strategy also includes holding an annual employment forum for young people studying abroad, in order to integrate their experiences into the Egyptian market.
The strategy comes as part of the partnership with the private sector to achieve sustainable development, which includes deepening communication mechanisms between the Emigration Ministry and young Egyptians studying abroad.
