Employability of Egyptian Agriculture University Graduates: Skills Gaps

Egypt’s Strategic Development plan calls for higher-education curricula that produce workforce-ready graduates. Creating such curricula requires strong understanding of the skills and attributes most valued in the economy. Toward this end, this study focused on Egyptian agriculture sectors and measured perspectives of Egyptian agriculture university professors, students and private-sector employers on areas for potential job opportunities for agriculture university graduates and the skills graduates need toobtain and excel in those jobs. Using a survey-based approach, the study included responses from 417, 974, and 92 professors, students, and employers, respectively. Employers and professors identified poultry production, food/beverage processing, and protected horticulture as sectors (among 24 choices) with the most employment opportunities for agriculture university graduates. The most valued skills in new employees from employers’ perspectives (among 35 choices) were identified by principle component analysis and included familiarity with technologies, ability to apply academic knowledge to real scenarios, ethical decision-making, teamwork and problem-solving skills, ability to work with others from diverse backgrounds, and motivation and ability to learnnew things. The largest students’ skills gaps (difference between value of the skill in new employees and students’ competency level in the same skill as assessed by employers) included time management, ability to plan/organize, conflict management, knowledge of industry, and ability to manage tasks/projects. Taken together, these results can inform development of market-driven curricula in Egyptian agriculture universities by highlighting areas/attributes where students should focus to increase their employability and pedagogies that allow students to gain these skills during their university careers

How Are Egyptian Agricultural Students Preparing for a Career?

Egypt has made substantial progress in access to education. However a high unemployment rate among university graduates and employers being unable to find a skilled workforce are of great concern. A pragmatic approach for education that enables student to participate in career preparation activities in and outside the classrooms and prepare them for a job following their graduation is of paramount importance. Soliciting opinions from undergraduate students and professors in five agricultural universities and employers from major agricultural industries in Egypt this study aimed to identify student participation in career preparation activities, ascertain major sources for career advice and information about their prospective careers and preparation for those careers. The findings revealed that students had limited opportunities to practice in their career skill-building through their coursework activities. For a majority of the students, professors and university graduates were the primary sources for career advice. Students seldom visited career services offices and did not quite utilize their services, but frequently browsed websites of potential employers. Career advising services appeared to be below the students’ expectations across the universities. Strategies and policies are needed to strengthen career advisory services at universities to improve graduates’ chances of obtaining meaningful employment in their fields of study

Discord between Egyptian Agriculture Students’ and Employers’ Perceptions of the Importance of Various Skills in new Employees

Unemployment remains high among Egyptian university graduates. This study aimed to identify demographic attributes that influence student perceptions of the importance of employability skills, as well as to measure concordance between employers versus student perceptions of the importance of employability skills. Egyptian university agriculture students and private sector employers completed a survey where they assessed their perceived importance of 35 skills. A multivariate linear regression model was used to measure the influence of student demographics in decision-making and concordance between employers and students were compared using Cohen\u27s weighted Kappa. Student location was the most influential demographic that determined perceptions of the importance of employability skills. As a group, students possessed more intra-group concordance than employers, but concordance levels of all students were low when compared to employers. Our findings indicate that regardless of demographics, Egyptian agriculture university students are unaware of what is important to potential employers, meaning that students do not know which skills to focus on developing when searching for a job. Teaching students the skills that are most desired by employers contributes to Human Capital Theory because it improves the employability value of university graduates. Few studies have analyzed student demographics combined with student/employer concordance. This approach could assist future studies that aim to compare individual student and employer perceptions to each other

Modulation of apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2 cells) by a standardized herbal decoction of Nigella sativa seeds, Hemidesmus indicus roots and Smilax glabra rhizomes with anti- hepatocarcinogenic effects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A standardized poly-herbal decoction of <it>Nigella sativa </it>seeds, <it>Hemidesmus indicus </it>roots and <it>Smilax glabra </it>rhizomes used traditionally in Sri Lanka for cancer therapy has been demonstrated previously, to have anti-hepatocarcinogenic potential. Cytotoxicity, antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory activity, and up regulation of p53 and p21 activities are considered to be some of the possible mechanisms through which the above decoction may mediate its anti-hepatocarcinogenic action. The main aim of the present study was to determine whether apoptosis is also a major mechanism by which the decoction mediates its anti-hepatocarcinogenic action.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Evaluation of apoptosis in HepG2 cells was carried out by (a) microscopic observations of cell morphology, (b) DNA fragmentation analysis, (c) activities of caspase 3 and 9, as well as by (d) analysis of the expression of pro-apoptotic (Bax) and anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2) proteins associated with cell death.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results demonstrated that in HepG2 cells, the decoction can induce (a) DNA fragmentation and (b) characteristic morphological changes associated with apoptosis (nuclear condensation, membrane blebbing, nuclear fragmentation and apoptotic bodies). The decoction could also, in a time and dose dependent manner, up regulate the expression of the pro-apoptotic gene <it>Bax </it>and down regulate expression of anti-apoptotic <it>Bcl-2 </it>gene (as evident from RT-PCR analysis, immunohistochemistry and western blotting). Further, the decoction significantly (<it>p </it>< .001) enhanced the activities of caspase-3 and caspase-9 in a time and dose dependent manner.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall findings provide confirmatory evidence to demonstrate that the decoction may mediate its reported anti-hepatocarcinogenic effect, at least in part, through modulation of apoptosis.</p

Anti-Inflammatory Activity Is a Possible Mechanism by Which the Polyherbal Formulation Comprised of Nigella sativa

The present study investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of a polyherbal decoction comprised of Nigella sativa, Hemidesmus indicus, and Smilax glabra in order to justify its claimed antihepatocarcinogenic activity. Activation of hepatic nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), IκB kinase (IKK α/β) proteins, and TNFα and IL-6 expression was investigated in diethylnitrosamine- (DEN-) induced C3H mice-bearing early hepatocarcinogenic changes. Acute phase inflammatory response was evaluated by carrageenan-induced rat paw edema formation. Anti-inflammatory mechanisms were also assessed by determining effect on (a) membrane stabilization, (b) nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activity, and (c) inhibition of leukocyte migration. A significant inhibition of the paw edema formation was observed in healthy rats as well as in rats bearing early hepatocarcinogenic changes with oral administration of the decoction. As with the positive control, indomethacin (10 mg/kg b.w.) the inhibitory effect was pronounced at 3rd and 4th h after carrageenan injection. A notable IKK α/β mediated hepatic NF-κB inactivation was associated with a significant hepatic TNFα downregulation among mice-bearing hepatocarcinogenic changes subjected to decoction treatment. Inhibition of NO production, leukocyte migration, and membrane stabilization are possible mechanisms by which anti-inflammatory effect is mediated by the decoction. Overall findings imply that anti-inflammatory activity could be one of the mechanisms by which the decoction mediates its antihepatocarcinogenic effects

Estimating food production in an urban landscape

There is increasing interest in urban food production for reasons of food security, environmental sustainability, social and health benefits. In developed nations urban food growing is largely informal and localised, in gardens, allotments and public spaces, but we know little about the magnitude of this production. Here we couple own-grown crop yield data with garden and allotment areal surveys and urban fruit tree occurrence to provide one of the first estimates for current and potential food production in a UK urban setting. Current production is estimated to be sufficient to supply the urban population with fruit and vegetables for about 30 days per year, while the most optimistic model results suggest that existing land cultivated for food could supply over half of the annual demand. Our findings provide a baseline for current production whilst highlighting the potential for change under the scaling up of cultivation on existing land

Blast resistance of curved concrete panels

A series of numerical simulations were performed on reinforced concrete cladding panels with different curvatures subjected to explosive loading. The LS-DYNA finite element program along with the Concrete Damage Model was used to develop the numerical model and calibrated using the results of existing explosive trials. Both convex and concave shaped single curvature panels were assessed along with standards flat panels for the blast performance. Two different connection types were considered for the evaluation, which were identical to those used in the original explosive trials, named as dowelled type and angle cleat type connections. Improved performance with reduced transverse deformations was observed for the convex shaped panels in comparison with the original flat panel. However, concave shaped panels exhibited a more flexible response. Connection forces did not exhibit a significant variation although the panel response was different with change in curvature