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| Dr. Tarek Shawki, Minister of Education , Ministry of Education - Egypt |
Dr. Tarek G. Shawki is well known in academic circles for his work in
the area of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics where he received his
education at both Cairo University (Egypt) and Brown University (RI,
USA). Dr. Shawki taught a variety of engineering and applied mathematics
courses to both undergraduate and graduate students over a period of 20
years (1980-1999). Dr. Shawki's research work focused on the behavior
of engineering materials and failure mechanisms at high rates of
loading. In particular, he focused on the study of shear flow
localization (shear band formation) in thermal viscoplastic materials.
Dr. Shawki is also known within the international community as a leader
in the area of integration of modern ICTs in education, science and
culture. Dr. Shawki served as an international civil servant within the
United Nations system (UNESCO) for nearly 14 years where he was
primarily based in Egypt and Paris, France. Dr. Shawki led numerous
global/regional/national projects involving the integration of ICTs in
education, science and culture
In addition to his position, Dr Shawki served as the Senior Strategic
Advisor to the President for Education and Outreach at the American
University in Cairo. From September 2012 until December 2015, Dr Shawki
served as the Dean of the School of Sciences and Engineering at the
American University in Cairo. This academic assignment followed a tenure
as the Director of the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science in Arab
States between 2008 and 2012. Prior to his UNESCO Cairo Office
appointment in June 2008, he was the Chief of the Section for ICTs in
Education, Science and Culture within the Information Society Division
in UNESCO headquarters (Paris, France). Dr Shawki served as the Regional
Advisor for Communications and Information at the UNESCO Cairo Office
(UCO) between January 1999 and November 2005. Dr Shawki has been a
panelist on the National Science Foundation and the National Research
Council. His leadership is considered paramount to the Arab region in
modernising university education in basic and engineering sciences. Dr
Shawki is currently leading national efforts in Egypt, towards building
an ‘Egyptian Learning Society’ and managing grand projects to prepare
young leaders, train thousands of teachers and to establish the
‘Egyptian Knowledge Bank’ Dr Shawki pioneered the strategic
public-private partnerships with the IT corporate within UNESCO, which
includes Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and Apple Inc. He has been the key
architect of the standard setting effort by UNESCO involving the ICT
Competency Framework for Teachers. Dr Shawki has been developing major
programmes involving the effective use of ICTs in education, science and
culture.
