The Cairo University, Egypt

The Cairo University, Egypt

Despite being one of the oldest universities, Cairo University, Egypt has been ranked among the best on several occasions. Formerly known as The Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu’ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, Cairo University was founded on the 21st of December, 1908. It is Egypt’s premier public university, with its main campus in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo.  

Initially, the faculties were scattered across Cairo. However by 1929, starting with the Faculty of Arts, the faculties were moved to the main campus in Giza. It is the second oldest institution of higher education in Egypt after Al Azhar University. It was founded and funded as the Egyptian University by a committee of private citizens with royal patronage in 1908 and became a state institution under King Fuad I in 1925. The first president of Cairo University, then known as the Egyptian University, was Professor Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, who served from 1925 to 1941.

Lord Cromer who was the British representative in Egypt was opposed to the establishment of an institution of higher education before he retired because he feared it would lead to anarchy. Several constituent colleges preceded the establishment of the university including the College of Engineering in 1816, which was shut down by the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, Sa'id Pasha, in 1854.

 Cairo University was founded as a European-inspired civil university, in contrast to the religious university of Al Azhar, and became the prime indigenous model for other state universities. In 1928, the first group of female students enrolled at the university.

Armenian bureaucrat Yaqub Artin made the first known published reference to establishing an Egyptian university in 1894. In a report, he suggested "the existing higher professional schools could well provide the basis for a university”. Furthermore, a Syrian journalist Jurji Zaydan called for an “Egyptian college school” (madrasa kulliya misriyya) in 1900 in his monthly magazine Al-Hilal. He provided two models for this institute of higher education: the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, India, which delivered a Western-style education in the English language, or the Syrian Protestant College (now the American University of Beirut) in Beirut, run by American missionaries. 

As regards funding of the institution, large landowners, bureaucrats, members of the royal family, and journalists, lawyers, and school teachers including Mustafa Kamil, disciples of Muhammad Abduh such as Qasim Amin and Saad Zaghlul, and eventually Khedive Abbas II and Prince Ahmad Fu’ad I became involved. As Donald M. Reid writes, “Royalist partisans stressed Fu’ad’s founding role, Watanists pointed out Mustafa Kamil’s call for a university, and Wafdists emphasized the contributions of Saad Zaghlul, Muhammad Abduh, and Qasim Amin.”

Over the years, more technological advancements have taken place, the faculty of engineering In 2006, the college began implementing the credit hour system by launching the following programs: construction engineering, Computer and telecommunications engineering. In 2007 programs that were developed: mechanical design engineering, architecture engineering and construction technology and petrochemical engineering. In 2008, it introduced a program: Construction Engineering. In 2009, it introduced the Water and Environmental Engineering Program.

Notable Alumni

Abdel Khalek Sarwat Pasha (1873-1928), twice Prime Minister of Egypt.[29]

Husayn Fawzi Alnajjar, historian, political scientist, and strategist

Said Ashour, professor of history

Mohamed Atalla, engineer, inventor of MOSFET (MOS field-effect transistor), pioneer in silicon semiconductors and security systems, founder of Atalla Corporation[30]

Naima Ilyas al-Ayyubi, first female lawyer in Egypt

Gamal Aziz, also known as Gamal Mohammed Abdelaziz, Egyptian former President and Chief Operating Officer of Wynn Resorts, and former CEO of MGM Resorts International, indicted as part of the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal

Hisham Barakat, assassinated Prosecutor General of Egypt

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) 1992–1996

Eli Cohen, Israeli Mossad spy that infiltrated the highest echelons of Syrian Government and instrumental in Israeli success in the Six Day War and other successes

Taher Elgamal, designer of the ElGamal encryption system and considered “Father of SSL”

Wael Ghonim, Egyptian activist and figure of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011

Basma Hassan (born 1976), actress

Saddam Hussein (1937-2006), former president of Iraq

Yuriko Koike, former Japanese Minister of Defense and first female governor of Tokyo

Heba Kotb (born 1967), Egyptian sex therapist and tv host

Adly Mansour, Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt

Mohamed Morsi (1951-2019), deposed President of Egypt

Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League 2001–2011, and president of the Egyptian constitution amendment committee in 2013

Omar Sharif (1932-2015), actor, nominated for an Academy Award and has won three Golden Globe Awards

Magdi Yacoub (born 1935), professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Imperial College London

Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy

Ayman al-Zawahiri, former practicing surgeon in the Egyptian Army, current leader of the militant organisation al-Qaeda

Walid Muallem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Syria

Nobel laureates

Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988

Yasser Arafat, Nobel Peace Prize in 1994

Mohamed ElBaradei, Nobel Peace Prize in 2005

From  EAWTM