American University Educational Exchanges Students
Egypt is accessible to foreign students but particularly to American students. More American speaking students are currently studying in Egypt than in any other country in the Arabic-speaking world. In addition, the English language has a strong presence among Egyptian institutions of higher learning – English is the official language of instruction in the American University in Cairo, the faculty of Agriculture of the University of Alexandria and some faculties of Helwan University.
Egyptian and American Study Abroad Programs
- There are more American students currently studying in Egypt than in any other country in the Arabic-speaking world.
-
In the 2007-2008 academic year, Egyptian students studying in the United States increased by 6 percent from the previous year. At the same time, the number of American students in Egypt increased by 10 percent from the previous year. The total number of American students studying in Egypt reached a record high of 1,100 during the 2007-2008 academic year.
Cairo University - Cairo University, a secular institute of higher education located in Giza, Egypt, was founded in 1908. With 200,000 students and 12,000 faculty members, Cairo University is the largest university in Egypt, and is led by its president, Professor Dr. Hossam Mohamed Kamel.
- Throughout its history, Cairo University has delivered the highest quality education, research and cultural exposure to its students. The New York Times has called the university “an important institution that once helped to elevate modern Egypt to the center of Arab learning.”
- The university’s medical school, Kasr Alaini, was one of the first medical schools in Africa and the Arab world. It is considered the mother university among other younger universities in Egypt and serves as the national center for secular intellectual thought. Newer state universities in the Middle East have used Cairo University’s structure as a model.
- On June 4, 2009, President Obama delivered an historic speech at Cairo University, in which he said “for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement.” President Obama is the second U.S. president to deliver an address from the halls of Cairo University. On March 28, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt addressed the university and offered praise when he said “this university should have a profound influence in all things educational, social, economic and industrial, throughout this whole region, because of the very fact of Egypt’s immense strategic importance.” Impressed by the university, he continued by saying the “National University is fraught with literally untold possibilities for good to your country.”
American University in Cairo
- American University in Cairo (AUC) has nearly 5,000 undergraduates that come from all across Egypt and from one hundred countries around the world.
- Anywhere from 80 to 100 foreign colleges are represented on campus every year.
AUC and the U.S.
- American higher education institutions that regularly send students to AUC include American University, Brown University, Cornell University, Duke University, Georgetown University, Northeastern University, Tufts University and the University of Wisconsin.
- In Egypt, AUC operates within the framework of a 1975 protocol with the Egyptian government, which is based on a 1962 cultural relations agreement between the Egyptian and the U.S. governments. In the United States, AUC is licensed to grant degrees and is incorporated into the State of Delaware. AUC is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
- Several French, British and German universities have submitted requests to the Ministry of Higher Education to open private universities in response to the success of AUC and a growing interest of non-Egyptian students wishing to study in Egypt.