What Egypt’s corporate L&D looks like amid economic headwinds + growing tech importance: Across different sectors, Egyptian corporates — both local and multinational — continue to place significant focus on the learning and development (L&D) of its employees throughout varying seniority levels. Globally, most university-based executive education programs work with corporate clients — as opposed to Egypt, where individuals are investing a lot in their own L&D for better job prospects, according to a recent AUC School of Business report (pdf) that surveyed 40 companies in Egypt across 12 different sectors to map the L&D landscape from a corporate perspective. Broadly speaking, many of the same key market gaps from 2022 have carried over into 2023, albeit with different weights and with some gaps narrowing since last year, the report shows.

THE KEY TAKEAWAYS-

  • Nearly two thirds (60%) of the market is up to date on the latest L&D trends;
  • Companies are placing greater emphasis on the need for experiential learning and application-based learning and development programs;
  • A large market gap remains when it comes to effective assessment support, which, despite being costly, companies are willing to pay for.

Who’s seeking out L&D in Egypt? Companies broadly identify their L&D training needs through their L&D department, which the report says “was the key identifier of training needs in 79% of the studied cases,” while other departments and circumstances or market developments prompted accounted for 18%. Coming in last with 3% of the cases is “strategic vision and management-driven triggers,” according to the report. However, the bottom-up process has become less predominant at SMEs in Egypt (23% weight in 2023 vs. 33% in 2022) as “the ongoing economic uncertainty and disruption in the Egyptian market has driven SME managers to be more involved in decisions related to various cost streams, which includes training expenditures.”

And who’s keeping up with the L&D landscape? Some 60% of respondents indicated that they “are always updated with the latest trends” in L&D, with these respondents noting that they are able to keep up thanks to top-level support of the importance of L&D, having adequate access to resources, how the organization functions, and “evolving industry trends.” Multinational players also cited global directives as being a key driver.

The biggest gap in L&D: Companies also really want to see experiential learning taking the lead. The largest gap in the L&D market that respondents identified is the need for experiential learning and programs that prioritize knowledge application, although a smaller percentage of respondents cited it as a gap this year than did in 2022. While 48% said this is a key market gap in 2023, this is down from 71% in 2022. “There is a clearly visible gap in the local L&D sector between conveying concepts and providing theoretical knowledge on the one side, and the application of that knowledge in practice on the other,” the report says.

Not seeing as much progress as desired: Digital learning tech. Although the covid-19 pandemic changed workplace dynamics and introduced fully remote or hybrid work models, “simultaneously increasing the reliance on technology and digital tools … many L&D professionals believe that corporates and providers are still behind when it comes to making full use of digital learning technology,” the report says. This gap persists even though earners surveyed in the report were most keen to learn more about digital transformation, with 48% of respondents identifying it as the most important topic for L&D. Digital transformation was followed by “financial inclusion, disruptive management, healthcare forecasting and systems, [and] storytelling,” the report notes.

The same goes for L&D providers finding the right balance between hard and soft skills, which the report notes also “did not see a noticeable change” y-o-y in terms of the size or weight of the market gap. Respondents indicated that there’s a lack of “optimally coupled” training that effectively blends hard skills — technical knowledge or training that are required for job-related duties — with soft skills — which include people, communication, and time management skills. “Most notably, local providers are still behind when it comes to offering hard skills training programs that are intensely functional or technical in nature, especially if they’re industry-, category-, or company-specific,” the report says. Local companies reported a greater need for this blended training, which the report suggests “stems from the push to produce faster results in order to better compete in the market.”

Looking ahead: As Egypt’s workforce is grappling with “repeated shocks and disruptions” on the macroeconomic level, the importance of companies keeping their employees trained and equipped to cope with a constantly evolving landscape is key, the report notes. “Upskilling and reskilling current employees is crucial for the success of both organizations and individuals,” and is significantly more cost-effective and beneficial to companies than consistently bringing on board new talent to fill talent gaps. This focus on upskilling and reskilling also needs to focus on providing employees with the needed L&D through experiential programs that provide a “local flavor.”

Your top education stories for the week:

  • We’re planning to sell off 44 schools to the private sector: Ten new schools and another 34 under development will be offered to private-sector investors by the Education Ministry, a cabinet statement said.
  • The Knowledge Hub Universities may have a new branch soon: Elsewedy Education’s Knowledge Hub Universities wants to open a branch in Sheikh Zayed, Al Borsa reports.
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