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The future of education and employment

The attentive young woman said to me: What are the most important skills that young people need to work now and in the future, Doctor?
I said: The three most important skills that are currently needed in the labor market are: teamwork, communication and communication skills, and the ability to adapt to change. In addition to the leadership skills that are needed by many jobs at multiple levels.. Of course, this is in addition to digital skills, computer use, and knowledge of a second language beside Arabic.
Her colleague said: Of course, this is outside the scope of disciplines such as medicine, engineering, military colleges and practical colleges!
I said: No, my son, these skills are needed by the doctor, the engineer, the officer, the teacher, and all disciplines. There is no place at work today and certainly in the future for those who do not possess them.
Another young woman said: It is said that a large number of jobs today will disappear and new ones will appear, which will make it difficult for job seekers?
I said: In terms of numbers, this is a fact, millions of jobs will disappear during the next five years, and most of these jobs are dominated by the repetitive pattern. However, in return, millions more new jobs will be created.
This means expanding the segment of available jobs, not decreasing them. Whoever was unable to work as a taxi driver in the past can now work as an Uber driver, but he will need new skills, and whoever was unable to work in customer service in the workplace can now work the same job from his home.
Some jobs will disappear, such as the function of entering information and data, because with the growth of digital management, this will be done through automation and the collection of information through Big Data.
The specializations are shifting just as the platforms are. I will mention here disciplines that we did not know before, such as virtual reality developers, self-driving car engineers, and others, such as data analysts, computer systems analysts, information security specialists, code makers and analysts, e-marketing and software designers. Unfortunately, most of the new majors do not have a base in universities, but rather prepare young people for them in major companies.
Education and training has become a virtual reality, without the need to buy land or rent buildings and spend billions. These micro-certificates (Nanodegree) that do not cost those wishing great resources, and professional diplomas to raise the level of performance of employees, appear and will appear.
The young man looked at me and said: What do you mean by automation, Doctor? Do your words mean that education in universities and schools will not be the only place for education or for awarding certificates?
I said: First, the term automation. I did not know it until after I read a number of reports on the future of jobs and work in the future. It is an Arabized term that means automated operation, and it is an updated term for everything that works independently without human intervention. Automation can be described as the use of computers and devices based on processors or controllers and software in various industrial, commercial and service sectors in order to ensure the correct and automated flow of procedures and works with the least possible error. In short, automation is the art of making procedures and machines run and work automatically with greater efficiency and less time and without human intervention.
As for your question about universities and certification, you are right. Universities in their traditional form have to change, because the labor market precedes it in development and innovation, or else it will lose its role in making the future.
Higher education should not be thought of as a reaction to the current state of the labor market, unemployment rates, or the state of a profession at a specific moment in time… However, it will remain this type of education that shapes the features of the future and builds people who are capable of making development and not filling a vacuum. Needs only.. the person builds the opportunity maker and its realization, not just the beneficiary. Qualifies young people and builds a normal personality that respects difference and stays away from extremism.
The most important question is: What do we consider universities, the builder of civilization or the provider of educational and training services? Because that will create a difference in our view of these institutions.
The bright and intelligent young woman said: What is the main function of the university, Doctor, to answer your question?
I said: Over the centuries, universities have assumed a number of social functions. The diversity of such positions constitutes the unique personality of the university. All universities need to “reproduction”, “spread” and “evolution” at the same time, and they also need to know the reasons for change or the reasons for sticking to traditions. In order to do this, she must question what has been gained, and also test the different modes of thinking that exist in society. The university must also risk providing everything that is unexpected for societies that make it easier for the matter to remain as it is, and even fight renewal and change in order to preserve the reality that has been accustomed to, even if it is critical.
Another young man said: Do your words mean that universities embody the processes of change in society? .. This is what we do not see, Doctor, because we see universities chasing after industries and technology from the labor market and not the other way around!
I said: The origin of its role in society is to invent and absorb the new, transfer and manufacture knowledge, and achieve harmony and adaptation between knowledge and how to obtain and use it in the present time, and the requirements of the future. Accordingly, the role of academic institutions is emphasized in research, teaching and providing assistance to all activities on the basis of their capacity for opposition (critical dimension) and approval (need for commitment), and without the academic research dimension and the basic values ​​of the research community, the progress we seek may turn into chaos.
In a nutshell, we are undoubtedly facing very rapid changes in the midst of a changing world economically, socially, culturally, scientifically and technologically. The challenge facing the educational systems is great, and if the rate of change within any educational institution is slower than the rate of change occurring outside it, then let us wait for its end in the foreseeable future.
The educational system that ignores the developments and changes that will shape tomorrow, thus ends it
It has nothing to do with it or its connection to student life, and it will fade little by little. That is why we must reformulate our educational institutions from pre-school to college, to prepare our students appropriate preparation for the future and not for the past.
This requires academic institutions, which hope to remain competitive, to be proactive in modernizing their academic programs.
I return to distance education programs and educational programs on the Internet to gain an impetus for learning, which makes it imperative for institutes and universities to include virtual reality technologies in their programs, and to allow this type of universities to appear and spread, to provide an environment that helps update skills and facilitate the process of career transition for young people.
I am here, I do not forget the humanization of education despite its digitization .. I recall the vision of Egypt 2030, which clearly explained everything I told you, and it is a vision that I do not feel exists despite its importance to the government, the media or Parliament.
I see in Egypt’s Vision 2030 five basic axes that contribute to everything we said, the first of which is availability, non-discrimination and quality, the second is the governance of the management of the educational system and its decentralization and digitization does not tolerate bargaining, and the third is the digitization of education and the construction of infrastructure that confirms that the student is at home, the teacher is in his school, and a teacher The university and their administration think digitally, work digitally, and produce digitally, and fourthly, building the Egyptian character that is tolerant, loves beauty, works as a team, believes in freedom, is proud of its past, and has hope for its future. Without sports and art, learning to appreciate beauty and community work, and finally raising the competitiveness of our children and youth to the ceiling of global standards.