Reem Derbala
Executive Director, Strategic Planning and Policy Development Unit, Ministry of Higher Education- EGYPT
Reem Derbala

In 2006, Dr. Reem Derbala has received her Ph.D from Helwan University, Egypt and she worked as an assistant professor comparative and international education at Faculty of Education -Helwan University. In 2007 she was responsible on the Virtual Education Administration Professional Diploma (VGSEP).

She joined Strategic Planning Unit at the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) in 2007 - in addition to her work at the university- as an expert in field of education with the knowledge she acquired through her academic background and her study in international institute of education planning which is affiliated to UNESCO, she was chosen as the Head of Technical Studies Department at Strategic Planning Unit – MOHE in 2009. She led different decision makers support studies. She was promoted after a competition as director of strategic planning Unit – MOHE.

In 2012, Derbala started her professional management career through leading the strategic planning unit. She designed and led many studies and projects. She oversaw academic sectorial development projects. One of them was on the development of faculties of education in Egypt. Dr. Derbala led the project entitled “skills beyond school” in cooperation with the OECD; The project success has been crowned by publishing two important reports, the first: is the national report on postsecondary vocational education in Egypt, and the second: is the skills beyond schools of Egypt 2015 published by OECD. Meanwhile in 2015 she led a project to study future of admission system in Egypt.

As a key player in the strategic planning for higher education area, she played a pivotal role in the creation and implementation of several national higher education and scientific research strategies in Egypt. Dr. Derbala is leading the process of developing national plans for higher education sector in Egypt from 2012 to 2018.