CAIRO, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Egypt is trying to draw more renowned foreign universities in to set up satellite campuses in the country as part of its ambitious national development plan, said Adel Abdel Ghaffar, spokesman of the country's Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry.
Under the Egypt Vision 2030 for sustainable development, "the ministry has been working on attracting world-renowned universities with high rankings to open branches in Egypt, especially in the new cities like the New Administrative Capital," Abdel Ghaffar told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"The diversity and competitiveness of learning providers will help attract students from Arab and African countries, with the objective of turning the most populous Arab country into a regional educational hub," he noted.
The ministry recently announced that six branch campuses of prestigious foreign universities have been operating in the New Administrative Capital since the academic year 2020-2021. A seventh one was licensed on Wednesday.
Introducing more foreign universities into Egypt will help save public investment in scholarships, improve the country's higher education quality and prepare local graduates with the skills required for the labor market, according to the ministry's spokesman.
Students will obtain internationally-recognized certificates with low costs compared to studying abroad, "and (these) new universities also opened the door for students from the neighboring countries," Abdel Ghaffar said.
In late May, Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala Al-Saeed told the parliament that the government plans to direct 69.2 billion Egyptian pounds (3.69 billion U.S. dollars) of public investments to the educational services sector during the 2022-2023 fiscal year starting July.
Compared to 2014, the number of governmental and private universities increased by 17.4 percent and 53.8 percent respectively, Abdel Ghaffar said, adding the ministry intends to open more public universities.
Egypt now has 27 public universities and 40 private and state-funded ones, said Abdel Ghaffar, noting six new technology institutes were set to open this year, raising the total of such colleges to nine, with a capacity of 22,500 students.
He added Egypt welcomes deepening cooperation and exchanges with other countries through programs, students, and professors.
He described the cooperation with China in the education field as "broad and fruitful," citing the growing number of Chinese language departments and Confucius institutes in the Egyptian universities, as well as an array of scholarships offered to Egyptian students.
