Algiers STEM Center

Program Description

The Algiers STEM Center strengthens the innovation, critical thinking, and communication skills of the Algerian workforce via direct training of youth, targeted teacher training, and community education forums and events.

This industry-led initiative is sponsored by Oxy Occidental Petroleum, DOW Chemical, and The Boeing Company, and was launched with additional support from the U.S. Embassy in Algiers.

Standing for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics, STEM education is an interdisciplinary approach to learning where rigorous academic concepts are coupled with hands-on innovation. Students work on real-world problems in STEM fields, making connections between school, community, and the global world of work. Around the world, STEM programs are multiplying in number and impact as modern industry seeks young recruits who are ready and able to contribute to innovation in these fields.

Inaugurated in April 2016, the center is the first of its kind in Algeria. In the center’s first 16 months, staff and mentors (students in scientific fields at local universities) trained more than 900 students, including 150 who regularly participate in specialized club activities. The center has also trained 25 teachers from across Algeria in interactive STEM teaching approaches and sent a team of young tech enthusiasts to the US to participate in an international robotics competition in July 2017.