On Tuesday, 18 October 2022, FiBS received a high-ranking delegation of various representatives from Egyptian ministries and business associations who wanted to learn more about the future of international vocational education and training (VET) as part of the Employment Promotion Project (EPP3) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ).

The delegation guests - including the Deputy Minister of the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE) - found the open exchange with FiBS very constructive and asked Dr Dieter Dohmen numerous practice-oriented questions.

Among other things, the participants were interested in the (organisational) requirements for setting up advanced training or research institutes in Germany. Some differences became apparent. In Egypt, you are not allowed to work in this field without (quality) certificates or permits from ministries. Whereas in Germany, official permits or recognition for the establishment of companies - beyond a possible entry in a (commercial) register - are mainly needed when it comes to receiving donations, public funding or settlements via the education voucher of the Federal Employment Agency. In these cases some quality certificates are needed. At the same time, the education system in Egypt and Germany also have fundamental similarities, such as the separation into general and vocational schools.

There was also great interest in the presentation of the in-house analysis tool EduSim, which can be used to evaluate long-term data, carry out simulation calculations and make forecasts for the future, e.g. up to the year 2050. Mr Dohmen showed the participants that in view of the increasing digitalisation and automation as well as the sustainability efforts in almost all areas of our world, it is of great importance to anchor the changed labour market needs/requirement profiles in the education system at an early stage. There were some surprised queries when Mr. Dohmen pointed out that children are essentially shaped in the first 16 to 18 months and that he therefore attached particular importance to supporting parents and early childhood education in order to give children from disadvantaged families better opportunities for the future. After all, creating regular incentives and stimuli for learning at this very early stage of development leads to people being able to learn better throughout their lives.

With EduSim, such a life cycle analysis can be comprehensively simulated and visualised. However, it is not only possible to "try a shot in the dark" at various future scenarios, but also to clearly compare the social and economic benefits (e.g. in terms of additional skilled workers or tax revenues) with the overall economic costs of such comprehensive changes in the education system (cost-benefit analysis).

FiBS was very pleased about the delegation guests' great interest in its own research work and is available for further international cooperation at any time.