رئيس جودة التعليم: الانتهاء من إعداد الإطار الوطنى للمؤهلات المصرية

Ashmawi said – in an interview with the Middle East News Agency on Tuesday – that this means that the qualification expresses a predetermined level of skills and competencies that the holder can perform in professional and practical life, and the qualifications framework also includes general, technical and higher education… stressing On the idea of ​​lifelong learning, ensuring the freedom to move between paths and progress to higher levels, and recognizing informal learning alongside formal learning.

In response to a question about how to activate the National Qualifications Framework after its issuance and what are the policies and tools that support it, Ashmawy replied, “First, there are academic reference standards for every level in every specialty, and there are standards and quality assurance mechanisms and flexible systems for learning and training.” Second, achieving the framework’s specific goals requires Supporting lifelong learning, providing equal learning opportunities that are appropriate to the needs of the individual, allowing transition between tracks, recognizing prior learning, and creating systems, tools, and mechanisms that support the flexibility of learning. It is also very important that, under the National Qualifications Framework, we recognize prior learning, as a part that cannot be ignored is learned outside the framework of formal institutions. Whether through work or training.

He added that the third issue is the availability of information and legislation/defining responsibilities and competencies, and one of the very important aspects is calibrating the National Qualifications Framework with the European Qualifications Framework, as one of the basic goals of the Egyptian National Qualifications Framework is to make these qualifications legible for both the labor market and education systems at the regional levels. And international, stressing that calibrating the Egyptian framework with the European framework is an essential step on this path, supported by the recognition of education quality assurance systems for the sake of the strategic goal of providing freedom of movement at the level of learning and work to and from the Egyptian education system.

He explained that “quality of education” is not just an academic or institutional term, as there has become a strong connection between this concept and economic development, as each of them depends on the other to a great extent, and from here came the interest of countries, including Egypt, in standards of quality of education, which helps in occupying positions in International classification.

He pointed out that, based on the Davos Index 2023, the global classification of education quality depends on some important criteria, which are the degree of development and progress in work, the use of modern technologies in the educational process, the size and development of the labor market, the quality of student learning in the main stages, and the general health of students. The suitability of their environment, continuous development and support for innovative businesses, the quality of field training for students within the country, the effectiveness of university education, the dissemination of innovative ideas and the institutions responsible for them, markets for quality goods, the economic environment of the country as a whole, and the efficiency of the labor market.

In response to a question about the concept of quality education now, Ashmawy said, “In short, quality education is a continuous process of reviewing and evaluating performance and using the results to identify areas of deficiency and develop appropriate solutions for improvement and development. Meaning, it is the means by which the educational institution, based on its mission, sets and implements academic standards.” “In accordance with national and international standards and ensuring that the educational level and community services are commensurate with the needs and aspirations of all its beneficiaries.”

Regarding the training department at the Authority, as it is one of the most important training departments, and are there criteria for selecting training programs? The head of the National Authority for Educational Quality Assurance and Accreditation confirmed that the training department at the Authority constantly offers a variety of training courses, which have been prepared to cover topics through which knowledge and skills are developed. For the course, the topics of these programs were classified into 4 main areas: (accreditation systems mechanisms, quality management systems and mechanisms within the educational institution, quality assurance in institutional management, and quality assurance in teaching, learning and evaluation methods).

He added that the training areas are general for all educational institutions, and these programs contain a set of training courses to qualify all categories of workers in the pre-university education system at the level of schools and educational departments, including leaders, teachers, administrators, and work teams participating in the preparation of self-studies and internal evaluation of the educational institution for the purpose of development. Human resources for employees so that their competencies keep pace with development requirements and motivate them to bring about the appropriate change in the educational institutions to which they belong and maximize the use of available capabilities to achieve the quality assurance standards necessary for educational institutions to qualify for accreditation within the framework of the requirements of the Commission and Accreditation.

Regarding the targeted departments of training for higher education, Ashmawy said that the training programs for higher education institutions target the following categories: academic leaders (deans – deans – heads of scientific departments…), teams preparing the institution’s self-studies and application files for accreditation, faculty members, the supporting staff, and references. The internal and external auditors, and the training programs matrix includes 20 training programs, classified according to their target group.

In response to a question about the Authority’s notable interest in digital transformation in various fields of education quality, Ashmawi said, “The truth is that the Authority itself has made great strides in digital transformation by adopting programs for applying for accreditation electronically rather than on paper, as well as conducting all follow-up and evaluation processes and virtual visits to… In addition to direct visits, of course, there is a flexible digital situation in the dealings between the Authority and all educational institutions, as well as the ministries and concerned authorities.”

Ashmawi pointed out that with regard to digital transformation in the fields of education itself as a system, the transformation in the way schools work has its advantages in eliminating monotonous work, increases the time for thinking about development, and helps speed up the daily method of work so that the great technological development taking place is exploited to serve the beneficiaries, including students, teachers, and administrators. And parents faster and better, and it also works to increase efficiency in workflow plans so that errors decrease and productivity increases, while increasing the participation of students and other beneficiaries in the educational process.

From this standpoint, and by reading the concept of digital transformation and quality of education, Ashmawy explained that digital transformation is not the primary goal of the educational process as much as it is one of the entrances and tools for achieving a new and contemporary quality of education.

Regarding his vision of allocating the sustainable development strategy – Egypt Vision 2030 to three complete axes to present and discuss the government’s strategic vision regarding investment in people until the year 2030, Ashmawy stressed that all serious international studies have agreed unanimously on the relationship between education and economic growth, and that there is a positive and moral relationship between each of the following: The quantitative level of education, or what is known as “educational achievement,” the number of years of education, and the quality level of education – that is, the cognitive and perceptual skills and abilities that are reflected by the student’s performance in standardized tests. This leads us to higher rates of innovations and inventions, and makes individuals more productive by helping to provide methods. Better and more modern productivity, and leads to the rapid introduction of modern technology that leads to growth.

When asked whether the quality of education as part of human investment is an existential imperative in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Ashmawy answered that these are not expectations, but today they are established facts because in light of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence, and the tyranny of knowledge algorithms over everything, there will be a change in the needs of the labor market with the disappearance of… Professions and the emergence of new professions as a result of amazing technological progress and an increase in the competitiveness of products worldwide, with the possibility of a negative impact on the market industries of developing countries.

On the other hand, studies indicate that there is an important impact of education and its quality on both the fairness of income distribution among countries and the wage gap between individuals within a single country, and this is an important thing that requires a lot of studies and research.

Regarding Egypt’s position on indicators of the atmosphere and competitiveness of education, Ashmawy said that the average class density and the number of students per teacher are among the most important indicators of the quality of inputs into the educational process, given that the high number of students in one class undermines the ability to participate and interact, both among students. Some of them or with teachers, and the high number of students per teacher limits the ability of teachers to focus with students and apply teaching methods that aim to develop their skills and motivate them to be creative, think critically, and solve problems. Average class densities at all levels increased between the years 2010-2011 and 2019-2020. It reached a maximum of 53 students in the primary and preparatory stages of education, while the average number of students per teacher stabilized for all educational levels except for the pre-primary stage, which witnessed a noticeable decrease between the two years referred to, which represents a good sign.

Regarding the presence of new indicators regarding the increase in measurements of the quality of education in Egypt, Ashmawy explained that one of the positive indicators in the last stage is the high rates of the extent of objectivity of measuring the quality of education by institutions and organizations in the fourth pillar “Health and Basic Education” of the Global Competitiveness Index, and Egypt came in ranked 100 out of 137 countries in the fifth pillar of the competitiveness index.

Ashmawy pointed out that Egypt’s ranking in the World & News US Report rankings for the best countries in education came in 42nd place out of 73 countries in the world and third in the Arab world after the UAE and Qatar in 2020, compared to 51st in 2019. This index is a composite of three Sub-indicators are the existence of a developed public education system, individuals’ thinking about enrolling in a university, and whether the country provides high-quality education.

In response to a question about his view of the future with regard to the quality of education, Ashmawy noted that there is more than one reason for optimism in reality, the first of which is that the quality of education is at the core of the state’s strategy and the subject of personal interest from the political leadership, and the government seeks to give this matter an important priority in the reform programs that it will adopt during the period. Current and future, which was already expressed in the government’s work programs for 2021-2022 and 2018-2019, as “improving the competitiveness of education systems and outcomes” and “developing the pre-university education system” came as sub-programs of the main program “confirming scientific identity” within The second strategic goal is to build the Egyptian human being, expressing his belief that we are proceeding according to systematic plans, and we will overcome many of the obstacles that may face us through clarity of vision, purpose, and soundness of purposes.