28 Feb. - 6 March 2002
Issue No.575
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 Feb. - 6 March 2002 Issue No.575 |
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The Europeans are coming
Both a French and a German university will be opening their doors in Egypt next year. Mariz Tadros spoke to French ambassador, François Dopffer, and German ambassador, Baron Paul von Maltzahn, about Europe's advent into Egyptian higher education
By the year 2003, high school graduates in Egypt may have the option of choosing between an English, French or German university education. A presidential decree to establish two new private universities -- one French and one German -- has finally been signed this month.
François Dopffer
Baron Paul von Maltzahn
photos: Sherif Sonbol
Minister of Higher Education Mufid Shehab said the committee for private universities has welcomed the move, saying it will enrich students by exposing them to other cultures.
In addition to the American University in Cairo, there are four private universities in Egypt that have been established under the private universities law passed in 1992 and its implementative charter released in 1996. The two new universities are to be established under the same law.
Talk of the founding of a French university has been circulating for some time, especially since French was the first European language to be spoken in Egypt almost two centuries ago. The project was revived a few years ago, when a preparatory committee for the establishment of the French University was formed and led by a former ambassador to France, Samir Safwat. In 1999, the university's founding document was signed and the inauguration was planned for 2001 pending the choice of a permanent site. But even after Shuruq City was picked as the location, delays in securing the required funding led to a postponement of the inauguration.
The founding stone for the German University was laid by Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and high-ranking German officials last year at the Fifth Tagammu at Al-Qahira Al-Gedida.
Both universities are now expected to be inaugurated in Autumn 2003.
In interviews with Al-Ahram Weekly, the German and French ambassadors to Egypt both expressed their wonder over the fact that these universities' establishment has come so late.
French Ambassador François Dopffer said the setting up of a French university in Egypt fulfils numerous purposes. For one, it will be instrumental in strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries. "There is a very long tradition of cultural exchange between Egypt and France, but there has always been something missing in that cultural relationship. The political dialogue is necessary; the economic relationship is useful; but what establishes a long term relationship is the cultural domain," Dopffer said. "We need a dialogue between intellectuals. If we don't have that, our relationship will be asymmetrical. One of the first things Mohammed Ali did was to send educational envoys to France and we have sent hundreds of teachers to Egypt. I cannot resist the pleasure of mentioning that my great aunt spent 30 years in Egypt as an educator."
In the 1950s, French missionaries set up close to 30 French schools in Egypt, with about a dozen still thriving today. "It is difficult to understand why a French higher institution of learning does not exist in Egypt today when the country has more than 60 bilingual schools [where French is taught], with more than 50,000 students enrolled. There is obviously a large pool of students who would wish to continue their education in French if given the chance," Dopffer said.
The French University will give those who wish to continue their education in French the choice to stay in Egypt, rather than go abroad. "If you send your students abroad, they might lose contact with their home country and there is always the possibility they might never return," the ambassador said.
Baron Paul von Maltzahn, the German ambassador to Cairo, said a German institution of higher learning was needed in Egypt for much the same reasons. "The question is not why a German university, but why there has been no such university till now. There are a great many academics who have studied in Germany and there are many students who are currently enrolled at the three German schools -- the two in Cairo and the one in Alexandria. There are many Egyptian students who would like to continue studying the German curricula," he said.
One question comes to mind: given that English is the language used locally and in the work market, how employable are graduates of a university that delivers its education in a different language?
"I don't think there's a problem. English is a requisite for employment, so everybody needs to speak English. But that should not prevent one from receiving a higher education in another language," von Maltzahn said.
The German ambassador pointed out, however, that instruction at the new German University will be in English, as the enrollment base is expected to encompass students who have not been taught at German schools. "The 'Germanness' of the university will not be in the language, but in the German curricula used and German teaching techniques employed. The language itself should not be seen as a target, but just a vehicle for delivering different content," he said.
Nevertheless, von Maltzahn said, students will be encouraged to learn German as a second language, to enable them to continue their studies in Germany, if they so wish to do. "There will be opportunities for internships and training programmes at German enterprises. That's why the universities we will be cooperating with are situated in very industrialised areas in Germany," he said.
Graduates of the German University in Egypt will also enjoy prospects of employment in Germany, especially those highly qualified in areas where there is a labour shortage, such as in IT, he said.
The success of the Kole-Mubarak project, which provides hands-on vocational training for youth, von Maltzahn said, has revealed that there is a demand for the German approach to education in Egypt.
Ashraf Mansour, chairman of the Founding Committee of the German University in Cairo, who is also a university professor in Germany and a businessman, explained that the fields of study will focus on science and technology. The university will offer majors in information technology, media technology, management technology, biotechnology, pharmacology and material science.
In addition to placing an emphasis on science and technology, the French University will also be offering majors in architecture, linguistics and management.
"I read that there are 1.3 million Egyptians enrolled in higher education institutions, with the number growing very fast. So a French university catering for 2,500 students will have no difficulty in finding a role," Mansour said.
A third of the teaching staff at the French University is expected to be French and two-thirds Egyptian. As for the German University, the ratio will be roughly half German, half Egyptian.
Both universities have had their curricula approved after having met the stipulations of the articles of Egypt's private universities law.
Dopffer could not give guarantees regarding accreditation in France of the degrees received from the French University in Egypt. "You cannot recognise a degree that does not exist yet. If the university is able to deliver quality education, administrative steps will be taken to make its degrees equivalent to the French degrees. But it will take time," Dopffer said.
Graduates of the German University will receive a double degree, since their curricula was devised in cooperation with the Universities of Ulm and Stuttgart and are consequently approved in Germany.
Von Maltzahn said the German government has decided to fund the search for German instructors to be recruited for the new university.
France's Ecoles (institutes of higher learning admitting a small number of top students) will be providing pedagogic assistance to the new French University in Egypt. "There will also be large investments coming in from French companies and the French treasury to finance the equipment," Dopffer said.
While some Egyptians eagerly await the opening of the two foreign universities, there are those who are vehemently opposed to the establishment of such institutions in Egypt. When the private universities law was discussed in 1996, critics warned that these institutions will be commercial ventures offering an alternative education to wealthy students who have failed to obtain the necessary grades to be admitted into state universities.
While no figures were given for the annual fees of the two new universities, they will probably be in the neighbourhood of LE20,000 a year.
According to Dopffer, the French University will be offering a large scholarship programme to allow students from low-income families entry into the university, adding that some French investors said they will be donating money only to the scholarship programme. Von Maltzahn also said that a generous scholarship programme, funded by the German government, will be offered at the German University.
While the French and German schools in Egypt are sufficiently subsidised to be accessible to the middle class, the universities' situation will be different. The two European universities, like their American counterpart, will, in all likelihood, draw the bulk of their students from the elite of Egyptian society.
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