Prof. Muhammad Hussein: We call on companies and factories to enter into an institutional partnership with the university to solve the problems of the industrial sector according to its actual needs and transform knowledge into economic value

    Today, Prof. Mohamed Hussein, President of Tanta University, witnessed the activities of the Tanta University Forum for Professional Development, Innovation, and Internationalization «TUI² FORUM 2026», which is held under the patronage of Prof. Abdel Aziz Qansouh, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

    The event was held in the presence of Prof. El-Sayed El-Ajouz, Vice President of the University for Education and Student Affairs; Prof. Mahmoud Selim, Acting Vice President of the University for Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs; Prof. Rania El-Imam, Dean of the Faculty of Specific Education; Prof. Mona El-Aasar, Dean of the College of Pharmacy; Prof. Yasser Al-Jarf, Dean of the College of Commerce; Prof. Nancy Al-Hafnawi, Acting Dean of the College of Computers and Information; Prof. Muhammad Ibrahim, Acting Dean of the College of Applied Arts; a group of university leaders and faculty members; directors of specialized centers and units; representatives of 15 companies, institutions, and economic sectors; and a number of journalists and media professionals.

     Prof. Mohamed Hussein stressed that the Egyptian state, under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, is based on a clear vision that considers knowledge, innovation and scientific research as the most important engines of economic growth and enhancing competitiveness, pointing out that Egypt's Vision 2030 links building a strong and diversified economy to investing in people, developing creative capabilities and transforming scientific research outputs into applicable products, services and solutions for marketing.

    The President of Tanta University welcomed the attendees, stressing that the forum brings together under its umbrella three axes that have become integrated pillars for building the university of the future, namely innovation, professional development and internationalization. 

     He explained that the forum represents the culmination of five days of work, interaction and exchange of experiences, and embodies a national trend to reformulate the relationship between the university, society and the economy, so that the university becomes a direct partner in development, a house of expertise for the state and industry, an incubator for innovation, and a source of solutions, technology and human capital capable of competing.

    He added that the real challenge lies in the ability of universities and industry together to build a more productive and competitive economy, deepen local manufacturing, increase the added value of Egyptian products, provide quality job opportunities, and transform Egyptian knowledge into a true economic powerhouse.

    Prof. Mohamed Hussein pointed out that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, led by Prof. Abdel Aziz Qansouh, is translating this vision into executive paths aimed at reducing the gap between the university and industry, including the «Faculty Member for Each Factory» initiative, which aims to employ scientific and research expertise in diagnosing industrial problems, developing applied solutions for them, raising operating efficiency and product quality, and supporting local manufacturing.

    The university president stressed that the true value of scientific research does not stop at publication, but is complete when it is transformed into an impact, whether it is a product, technology, solution to a problem, investment opportunity, startup company, or a tangible improvement in the quality of life of citizens.

    Prof. Mohamed Hussein sent a direct invitation to company and factory owners and representatives of the industrial and economic sectors to build a sustainable model of partnership with Tanta University, based on identifying actual challenges within production sites and making them available for academic and research expertise at the university to develop applicable scientific and technological solutions.

    He stressed that the university's professional development centers represent one of the main gateways to this communication, by receiving the needs of companies and linking them to appropriate specializations and expertise within colleges, research centers, laboratories, and units of a special nature, and building joint paths for training, employment, consulting, and applied and research projects.

    The university president also sent a message to the students participating in the forum, calling on them to continue developing their projects and ideas and not to consider the end of the forum as their end, stressing that the economies of the future will be built by ideas capable of transforming into value, and that young people are the owners of these ideas and the makers of this value.

    Prof. Mohamed Hussein thanked the university presidents, university leaders, and deans of colleges in the 25 participating educational institutions, as well as industrialists, company owners, and representatives of economic sectors. He emphasized that academia and industry are partners in a single equation, and that fourth-generation universities do not stop at their walls, but extend to the factory, the company, society, and the market. This approach aligns with Tanta University's vision of producing knowledge, transforming it into innovation, and then transforming innovation into economic and developmental value.

    For his part, Prof. Al-Sayed Al-Ajouz expressed his happiness to participate in supervising the forum's activities and following up on the ideas and projects presented by the students and work teams, stressing that the university aims to graduate a student who does not only hold a university degree, but also possesses the skills and abilities that enable him to compete and integrate effectively into the labor market.

    He explained that the Education and Student Affairs Sector places discovering and nurturing talented, brilliant and innovative individuals at the top of its priorities, noting that the projects witnessed by the forum reflect the talent, ambition and ability to be creative possessed by university youth, and that the university's responsibility is to discover these energies, nurture them and transform them into real opportunities for excellence.

    During the events, Prof. Mahmoud Selim gave a specialized presentation entitled «The Egyptian Labor Market: From Data Intelligence to Academic and Industrial Integration and Maximizing Employment and Export Opportunities», during which he reviewed the features of the map of the professional future in Egypt, the expected transformations in the nature of jobs and skills until 2030, and the sectors nominated for growth, in addition to the map of expected demand for jobs and an analysis of the export gap.

    During the presentation, he stressed the importance of achieving integration between academic institutions and industrial sectors to bridge skills gaps, maximize local employment opportunities, and raise the competitiveness of Egyptian competencies and their ability to access regional and international labor markets.

     On the sidelines of the events, the university president and attendees inspected the exhibition of participating projects and innovations, where student teams presented their models and projects to representatives of participating companies, institutions and economic sectors, which provided direct opportunities for communication and exchange of visions about the possibilities of development, application and investment in promising projects.

    At the conclusion of the event, 18 winning teams were announced across the nine categories of the innovation competition—selected from 42 participating teams representing 25 Egyptian educational institutions. The competition showcased a diversity of ideas and projects, as well as the ability of university and educational institution students to develop and implement innovative, scalable solutions.