Egypt seeks to improve higher education, scientific fields

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Wed, 07 Mar 2018 - 05:21 GMT

BY

Wed, 07 Mar 2018 - 05:21 GMT

FILE- Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel Ghaffar

FILE- Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel Ghaffar

CAIRO – 7 March 2018: Egypt is exerting sincere efforts to raise the quality of its higher education to better improve the impact of education on the society and on the country's performance in different fields.

Following the 2011 revolution, the government has prioritized the reform of the country’s education sector through cooperating with many international institutions, expanding accessibility, raising quality, and boosting vocational and technical offerings.

Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said during his meeting with British Ambassador John Casson on Wednesday that Egypt is keen to support its cultural and scientific cooperation with the United Kingdom and advance the partnership between Egyptian and English scientific and research institutions.

They discussed in the meeting the ways to maintain common scientific cooperation, benefit from common expertise and establish branches of advanced British universities in scientific fields at the New Administrative Capital.

They also followed up on the scholarships provided as a part of the partnership program between the two states, including the “Newton Supervisor” program, which aims to find solutions for the common challenges facing Egypt in economic and social development and provide training opportunities to improve the research and innovation capabilities in Egypt.

With United Kingdom universities occupying three of the top ten universities worldwide, the British Council, in association with the British ambassador to Egypt, held an event on February 27 to recognize successful Egyptian individuals who studied in the UK.

On the sidelines of the event, Egypt Today sat down with Ambassador Casson to discuss the importance of Egyptian-British cooperation in education and the positive impact that British education could have on Egyptian citizens.

When asked about the importance of education to Egypt and the UK, Casson revealed, “We are talking with the minister of higher education, who was in London recently, and we are looking to develop ways for our scientific research to grow the economy. We [Egypt and the U.K.] have a long history of education and now we can build a new kind of power in the 21st century.”

Minister Abdel Ghaffar signed a joint agreement with his British counterpart, Sam Gyimah, regarding the establishment of new international branches for British universities in Egypt.

In addition, Egypt cooperates with Ireland to benefit from its hands-on expertise in establishing International Branch Campuses (IBCs) in Cairo, which is a form of international higher education whereby one or more partnering institutions establish a physical presence in a foreign location for the purpose of expanding global outreach and student exchange.

Furthermore, Egypt built a governmental Egyptian university, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), in partnership with Japan in New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria, for postgraduate and undergraduate programs.

On February 18, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi received Director of the French National School-Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) Patrick Gerard to discuss cooperation between the school and the Egyptian Academy of Youth.

ENA is one of the most prestigious French and international institutions in the field of preparing officials and qualifying them to assume senior management positions.

In this context, Sisi stressed Egypt's aspiration to benefit from the experience of the French National School by establishing a full partnership with the Egyptian Academy of Youth to prepare cadres trained at the highest scientific level, so that the Egyptian Academy of Youth will be responsible for selecting leaders in the country according to the set criteria of efficiency and equal opportunities.

On November 2, Abdel Ghaffar announced during the International Education Conference held in the U.K., entitled “Cross Boundary Education in Egypt and the Chances of Investment in Higher Education”, that the New Administrative Capital will include six international universities from the United States, Britain, Hungary, Canada, Sweden and France.

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