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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 November 1999 Issue No. 456
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Plain talk
By Mursi Saad El-Din
Education is an ongoing process that should continue for as long as one lives -- a fact that is evidenced in the number of students attending classes at the American University in Cairo's Centre for Adult and Continuing Education, which has just celebrated its diamond jubilee.
The centre, previously called the Department of Public Service, is one of the oldest and most efficient public service organisations in Egypt. Initiated in 1924 as the Division of Extension, it dealt mainly with public service programmes, notably those dealing with personal hygiene and public health. In the 1950s the extension expanded to include French and German, as well as art and business classes. It was in the early 1960s that it was renamed the Department of Public Service -- a fully-fledged organisation offering a broad range of courses, from play-writing to secretarial studies and a summer institute to educate foreigners in Middle Eastern culture and history.
The department developed even further, offering a broader variety of courses: translation, both written and simultaneous; management services, which eventually formed into the Division of Commercial and Industrial Training; and, since 1980, a summer programme for children. This latter started off as a centre for the children of AUC faculty but has now expanded to include children from the greater Cairo community.
In 1992 the department acquired rooms in Heliopolis and Zamalek, in addition to its main offices in what has come to be called the Greek Campus (after the Greek school that used to occupy the space where it now stands). The centre has also spread out into the provinces, establishing branches in Alexandria, Beni Suef, Banha, Tanta, Menoufiya and Mansoura, and even in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The diamond jubilee celebrations comprise three events. The first, which took place on 9 November at a suitably dignified venue, the Rare Books and Special Collections Library, was a reception where alumni and friends of the centre gathered. Speeches were delivered by Gerhart, the president of the university and the dean of the centre. I had the honour of being the third speaker, the reason being that I happen to have been one of the first teachers on the translation courses.
Soon there will be another, special event for the students themselves, who have been invited to participate in a competition to come up with a slogan for the celebrations. Already the results of the competition have been announced and a party was held at the Greek Campus where prizes were given.
But this was not the only celebration held recently in AUC. This seems to be the year of anniversaries. The AUC Press celebrated its 40th, having been established in 1960. Since that time it has published over 250 titles. In recent years the AUC Press contributed greatly to the dissemination of Egyptian culture abroad, both through its books on Egyptian and Middle Eastern affairs and its extensive programme of translation of Egyptian writing into English. The latter started with Naguib Mahfouz. I believe that if it were not for some of these translations, the great writer would not have been given the Nobel Prize. After all, the Oslo Nobel Committee members have no knowledge of Arabic. Similarly, modern Egyptian writers owe the bulk of their English-speaking readership to the AUC Press. Already books by Youssef Idris, as well as other major writers, have been published. The AUC Press has also established a Naguib Mahfouz Prize for up-and coming novelists. Besides the financial reward, the chosen books are published -- a noble service indeed, considering the difficulties young writers confront in trying to make a name for themselves.
