Egypt's State Tech Program Trains 10,485 Students

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and the National Telecommunication Institute (NTI) honored graduates of Egypt’s 2026 Summer Training Program at ITIDA’s headquarters in Smart Village on Saturday, 17 October 2026. The program drew 10,485 university students from 27 governorates and formed part of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology’s effort to develop the country’s digital talent pool.

The ceremony put a government-backed training program and its labor-market goals on display. Students received technical instruction, professional skills, soft skills and freelancing training, with the stated aim of preparing them for a changing information and communications technology job market. The design ties training to employer needs and the Ministry’s strategy for preparing specialized talent in Egypt and internationally.

Training for the Market

Eng. Ahmed El Zaher, CEO of ITIDA, said investment in young people’s skills is essential to the growth and global competitiveness of Egypt’s technology industry. He highlighted training that links theoretical knowledge with practical application, adding that advances in artificial intelligence are changing jobs and employer needs. Continuous learning, adaptability and skills development, he said, matter more and more.

El Zaher described the program, delivered with NTI, as Egypt’s largest summer training program for university students by participant numbers. It offered more than 26 courses across eight tracks. Cybersecurity drew the most participants, with 2,192, followed by artificial intelligence with 2,001 and software development with 1,998. Data science enrolled 1,827 trainees; digital arts, 745; systems administration, 617; cloud computing, 559; and electronics, 548.

Each student received 120 hours of training: 90 hours of technical instruction and 30 hours for soft skills or freelancing. Male students made up 58% of participants and female students 42%. A total of 3,807 students took training through international technology academies, including programs affiliated with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, Fortinet, Huawei and Red Hat.

Certificates, Projects and Freelancing

Khattab congratulated more than 10,000 students who completed the program. Participants either developed a practical project published on GitHub or earned certification through an international academy. This year’s edition required students to complete a practical graduation project to earn the program certificate, and expanded opportunities for international certifications and freelancing skills.

More than 40,000 students applied in less than seven days after registration opened. Approximately 1,200 trainees completed their training pathways and moved on to advanced levels. Khattab said the top 200 graduates generated approximately $25,000 in freelancing revenue, averaging around $125 per graduate, within a short period after completing the program. Organizers presented the figures as evidence that graduates accessed paid work; they also show how prominently freelancing features in the training model.

The closing ceremony recognized 44 students who earned Fortinet Cybersecurity certification, students who secured freelancing opportunities through Gigs, and the teams behind the three top graduation projects. Organizers also arranged visits for top-performing students to technology companies’ offices in Smart Village. VOIS, Valeo, Systems Egypt, Coretech Innovations, Esperti Solutions and Izam Inc. took part, giving students exposure to workplaces, business operations, technology roles and employer requirements.

A National Program, Unevenly Distributed

Participants came from across the country: 3,691 in Greater Cairo, 3,941 in Lower Egypt and the Delta, 2,298 in Upper Egypt, and 555 in the Canal governorates. ITIDA said it allocated opportunities through mechanisms intended to achieve balanced distribution in line with student numbers in targeted academic disciplines in each governorate. El Zaher said the agency wanted to make specialized training accessible across Egypt and encourage companies to expand beyond Cairo.

The program is in its second consecutive year. Egypt has approximately 750,000 university graduates annually, including more than 50,000 ICT and engineering graduates, and an established offshoring industry with multinational technology and professional services companies. At the ceremony, the institutions’ stated task was to connect that pool of graduates to specialized skills and employers. The route runs through government agencies, international academy curricula and corporate offices. The program measures success through certifications, projects and freelancing earnings.