North-South collaboration and knowledge sharing on career guidance and youth transitions in Egypt and the MENA region
Professor Ronald G. Sultana (Faculty of Education and director of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research) and Dr Manwel Debono (Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Labour Studies) were guest keynote speakers at a conference and training workshop on career guidance organised by the German development agency GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) in collaboration with Helwan University in Cairo, Egypt.
Helwan is aiming to be the first university in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to offer a Masters course in career education and guidance, in an effort to promote professional services that help young people in their transition to work.
Professor Sultana spoke about the international reviews of career guidance that he has been involved in since 2000, when the OECD’s comparative study of 14 countries was followed up by a similar survey carried out in the EU Member States, and then in the Arab states, Turkey and Israel. He also highlighted trends and challenges in relation to the development of public policy in the area, to the organization of employment services for youths and adults, and to the training of practitioners.
Dr Debono drew on his experience as curriculum developer and coordinator of the University of Malta’s Masters in Lifelong Career Guidance and Development – a course jointly offered by the Centre for Labour Studies and the Faculty of Education – in order to give advice about the knowledge base required to professionalise the field.
