On Tuesday, March 15, 2022; The Center of excellence for Energy held its second Stakeholders Meeting. The meeting was attended by USAID, MOHESR, faculty members from Ain-Shams University, Mansoura University and Aswan University; companies in the energy industry sector and government related entities.

Dr. Sayfe Kiaei, COE/E Director, Arizona State University; started the meeting with welcoming remarks flowed by introduction from Ms. Key Leherr, Deputy Office Director for Education and Health. Ms. Leherr expressed her pleasure to attend such event with all energy stakeholders in Egypt and emphasized the importance of collaboration among all different parties to achieve the objectives of COE/E in Egypt. Then Dr. Ayman Ashour, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education gave opening remarks expressing his appreciation to USAID for supporting the COE/E and hope that the COE/E planned activities will consider the upcoming COP 27 agenda which will be held in Egypt in November 2022. The Deans of Faculty of Engineering for Ain-Shams and Aswan Universities and the Vice Dean for Mansoura University provides remarks on their willingness to cooperate together and with the Egypt energy sector to achieve Egypt Vision 2030 in this regard. They also emphasize that the COE/E will provide the opportunity to work with faculty members from Arizona State University and exchange experience in the energy applied research and curriculum development. Then, Dr. Sayfe Kiaei, COE/E Director, Arizona State University; and Ms.Dalia Sabet, COE/E In-Country Director; provided an overview of the COE/E, its main components and planned activities. Following that, Engineer Sabah Mashaly, Chair of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) gave a presentation on Egypt Achievements in the energy generation performance over 2014-2021 and the current challenges that facing the energy sector in Egypt.

In the second session, a panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Walid El-Khattam, the COE/E Technical Advisor. The panel members include; Eng. Sabah Mashaly, The Chair of the EETC; Dr. Mohamed El-Khayat, The Chairperson of The New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA); Dr. Hafez El-Salmawy, Professor of Energy Engineering, Zagazig University and Former Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Regulator (Egypt ERA); Dr. Maged Karam, Director of Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE); Dr. Ahmed El-Sabagh, Vice Dean of Environmental Services and Community Affairs, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University; and Eng. Hany Shaltout, Director of Solutions Development and Customer Training Sector, Schneider Electric Egypt. The theme of the panel discussion was oriented towards how the COE/E can assist the Egyptian needs of the energy sector development, through:

– Preparing the graduates to the market by improving the taught curriculum and training,

– Linking academic study with industry,

– Developing entrepreneurship,

– Exploring new research topics for alternative energy technologies/applications,

– Increasing the awareness of the importance of proper policies and regulations.

 

The panelists’ and stakeholders’ discussion highlighted the importance of role of the COE/E in assisting the development of the energy Sector in Egypt. The main conclusion of the panel discussion was that the need to develop university-level education strategies that rely on learning instead of teaching and new post-graduate energy degrees/ Diploma / Certifications are required in the fields of: Energy Economy, Energy Business, Energy Policy, Energy Regulation. In addition, there must be a linkage between academic courses topics and industry training.