CAIRO: Egypt is stepping up cooperation with Japan to promote technical education in schools and universities, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said. In a meeting with top officials on Sunday, he discussed cooperation in the field of technical education through Japan’s KOSEN system. This was a continuation of existing cooperation between the two countries on Japanese schools and universities in Egypt, according to a Cabinet statement. The coming period would see coordination with Japan in order to start a joint program in the field of technical education, the prime minister confirmed. Cooperation with the Japanese was a very good model and Egypt attached great importance to technological education, he added. The prime minister said there were a number of specialist technical universities being rolled out around Egypt and that three had already been established. Japan’s KOSEN system accepts students from the age of 15 and provides education based on practical training for a period of five years. The educational system in these colleges focuses on practical experience and manufacturing processes. Nader Saad, the official spokesman for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, explained that the KOSEN system was founded in 1962 in Japan through colleges specializing in technical education as a way to meet the labor needs of factories. The meeting also discussed experiences with the KOSEN system outside Japan, using Thailand and Vietnam as examples, which relied on strong partnerships with the governments of the two countries. It focused on the expected cooperation mechanisms between the two sides and the organization or body that would represent Egypt in implementing this program. The meeting also touched upon cooperation with the Japanese side in the field of technical education coming within the framework of the industrial sector’s need in Egypt for highly skilled labor, similar to the scenario in Japan that led to the founding of the system.