Cairo University has signed a three-year agreement with ICDL Arabia, the regional arm of the ECDL Foundation, to enhance students’ digital proficiency in a bid to align their skills with today’s job market demands.

Under the terms of the agreement, university students will receive funding assistance worth $300,000 to improve their ICT skills and help them obtain their ICDL certificate.
 
About 10,000 undergraduate students and 2,000 post-graduate students, will benefit from this grant, in addition to tens of students with special needs, said a statement from ICDL Arabia.  

Prof Gaber Nassar, Cairo University Chancellor, and Jamil Ezzo, the director general of ICDL Arabia, signed the agreement in the presence of Prof Gamal Abdul-Nassar, Cairo University’s Vice President for Community Service and Environment Development Affairs, and other representatives.

Under the terms of the agreement, the university will need to complete the accreditation requirements of all its training centers to be able to provide the ICDL training and testing to students.

The trainers must also be certified by ICDL Arabia to ensure that the training program meets the global standards adopted to provide trainees with unparalleled ICT skills. ICDL Arabia has expressed its commitment to secure more government funding from GCC and European countries to help support the training and testing costs.

Dr. Nassar said the agreement complements the vision of the university in digital skill.

"Establishing a strong strategic partnership with ICDL Arabia is vital as they play a major role in the region’s furthering of digital transformation by enhancing individual digital capabilities," he stated.

Dr Nassar said Cairo University was the first to implement the new ICDL structure in Egypt, which provides the efficiency, flexibility and quality required to promote ICT skills among students and graduates.

"Up-to-date digital skills enable anyone to gain a competitive edge in the local and regional job market," he added.     
Ezzo said the new co-operation paves the way for ICDL Arabia to implement the new structure for the first time in Egypt exclusively through renowned institutions such as Cairo University.

The new ICDL structure is composed of three levels, namely Base, Standard and Expert. The Base Level comprises four modules including Computer Essentials, Online Essentials, Word Processing, and Spreadsheets.

The Standard Level incorporates the Base modules with three of the six current Standard syllabuses. The Standard modules include Presentation, Using Databases, Project Planning, IT Security, Online Collaboration, and Health Information Systems Usage.

The Expert Level, which covers advanced skills in desktop applications, offers three of the four modules without any prerequisites.

"As today’s job market increasingly demands more skills in the latest ICT solutions beyond the commonly knows office applications, the new ICDL program provides students with crucial skills required by employers in the private and public sector," stated Ezzo.
 
"Such skills include competencies in IT Security, project planning, online collaboration, health information system usage and social media," he added.-TradeArabia News Service