Quarter 3 Progress Report HEI SUS RROGRAM FY2019 (April 1 – June 30, 2019)

The program is implemented by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in partnership with Nahdet El Mahrousa (NM) and AFS-Egypt Intercultural Educational Programs. Throughout the reporting period of April 1 to June 30, 2019, the IIE team worked closely with its implementing partners to prepare for Egypt internship placements for HEI STEM cohort 2. The team also worked with AFS-Egypt to facilitate the re-acclimatization of graduates to Egypt. Regular HEI scholar monitoring was conducted, and two re-entry workshops were scheduled and implemented, which were attended by a USAID representative. The re-entry workshops were designed to celebrate the accomplishments of HEI STEM undergraduate scholars as they conclude the U.S.-portion of their program. The goals of the workshop included reflecting on experiences in the U.S., learning how to take lessons gained from the program and apply them in the future, and developing a vision statement based on core values and issues. The workshops were attended by all 20 scholars, who were divided into two groups according to their graduation date. The scholars were accompanied to the airport by IIE staff after the workshops, and they were met by IIE staff upon their return to Egypt. IIE also managed the flight reservations for HEI STEM cohort 1 graduates returning in May 2019, as well as HEI STEM cohort 2 scholars attending their Egypt summer internships. The scholars were accompanied to the airport by IIE staff and received and verified in Cairo by IIE. In addition to the re-entry workshops, IIE and its implementing partner, NM, continued working on securing internship opportunities for HEI STEM scholars. The team collected the scholars' internship preferences and approached over 22 different hosting organizations, including private sector companies, public and private universities, and medical centers. The scholars were given the option to secure their own internships if they found opportunities that better suited their plans. IIE worked with the scholars on filtering the internship opportunities offered to them, sharing job descriptions, company profiles, and conducting virtual interviews with supervisors or employers. Twenty-nine scholars from STEM cohort II are scheduled to have their internships in the summer of 2019, with seven starting in June and 22 planned to start in July. Only one STEM I scholar is going to start her internship on July 1, 2019, due to her medical condition, which IIE is currently assessing. IIE also observed the many changes that have occurred in the scholars throughout their four years of studying, in terms of behavior, beliefs, and attitude. Based on these changes, it was decided that the scholars' families will need more support in comprehending them and how to best deal with their daughters when they arrive back to Egypt. IIE, with its implementing partner AFS, met the scholars' families to acquaint them with their daughters' developments in terms of character and independence. Most of the families seemed understanding and acceptable to these changes. The program's geographic focus is Egypt, and the implementation details are managed by IIE and its implementing partners. The timeframes for the program include the reporting period of April 1 to June 30, 2019, and the summer of 2019 for the internship placements. The recommendations for the program include continued support for the scholars and their families, as well as ongoing efforts to secure internship opportunities for the scholars.