American University in Cairo, at Cairo, Egypt; English language; founded 1919. It has faculties of anthropology, computer science, economics and political science, engineering, English and comparative literature, management, mass communication, psychology, science, and sociology. There is a large adult and continuing education program that offers career training in Arabic-English and Arabic-French translation, as well as business and computer courses. There are also language institutes in Arabic and English and centers for Arabic studies, social research, and desert development.
American University in Cairo
| Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia: American University in Cairo |
A small, international university founded in 1919 by U.S. educators.
The American University in Cairo (AUC) opened in 1920 under its founder and president Charles R. Watson, the Egyptian-born son of missionary parents from the United States. Although he had worked for the United Presbyterians' Board of Foreign Missions, Watson insisted that the university be independent of that organization; he wanted a Christian but nondenominational school.
The university opened modestly with a preparatory section (which closed in the early 1950s). Characteristic of colleges throughout the United States but then new to Egypt, there were also four other programs: an undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences; a noncredit Extension (now Public Service) Division; a Department of Education; and a School of Oriental Studies to serve missionaries, businessmen, diplomats, and other Westerners. AUC also featured physical education, coeducation, an open-stack library, a journalism major, and extracurricular clubs.
After twenty-five years, Watson was succeeded by John Badeau (1945 - 1953), who brought AUC into the postcolonial era. Arabic-speaking and affable, he cultivated Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser and other influential Egyptians. As U.S. ambassador to Egypt (1961 - 1964), he kept a friendly eye on the university.
The students were drawn mainly from economic and cultural elites, including many foreigners and minorities - Jews, Greeks, and Armenians were numerous until their communities emigrated en masse during Nasser's regime. Egypt's Coptic Christians were part of the student mix, as were women. Muslims were few, especially during the 1930s, when it was charged that AUC was proselytizing them for Christianity. AUC dropped hymns and prayers from its assemblies, but it was not until the 1960s, when AUC began closing on the Muslim holy day, Friday, and hired some full-time Muslim academics, that Muslim students enrolled in great numbers. Today they outnumber Christians.
Tiny in comparision with other Egyptian universities, AUC has sought distinctive offerings for both its Egyptian and foreign students. In 1961 to 1962, when Cairo University had almost 30,000 students, AUC had only 360 enrolled; in 2002 AUC had about 5,000 students enrolled and a teaching staff of 396. Since 1950 graduate programs have been added, as well as the Social Research Center, English Language Institute, Center for Arabic Studies, Center for Arabic Studies Abroad (CASA), university press, Management Extension Services, and Desert Development Center. In the late 1950s the Ford Foundation and the U.S. government provided major funding to replace funding once provided by private U.S. donors with missionary ideals. In the 1980s a Saudi business alumnus was the largest private donor.
When the United States replaced Britain as the dominant foreign power in the Middle East, the highly visible AUC campus became the target of anti-American demonstrations. During the Arab-Israel War of 1967 the university was sequestered, but Nasser's personal interest (he had sent a daughter there) soon restored things to normal. Egypt's President Anwar Sadat (1970 - 1981) had pro-U.S. policies, which brought new opportunities to the university. Both President Husni Mubarak's wife Suzanne and his politically prominent son Gamal are AUC alumni.
In 2007 the university is scheduled to move its main campus from Tahrir Square in the heart of downtown Cairo to the planned community of New Cairo being developed on the desert plateau east of the city. Its full-time enrollment is then planned to reach 5,500.
Bibliography
American University in Cairo web site. Available from http://www.aucegypt.edu.
Murphy, Lawrence R. The American University in Cairo: 1919 - 1987. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1987.
— DONALD MALCOLM REID
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| American University in Cairo | |
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| الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة | |
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| Established: | 1919 |
| Type: | Private |
| President: | David D. Arnold |
| Provost: | Lisa Anderson |
| Staff: | Full-time 413 Part-Time 298 |
| Undergraduates: | 4,229 |
| Postgraduates: | 1,093 |
| Location: | Cairo, Egypt |
| Campus: | New Cairo, Egypt |
| Website: | www.aucegypt.edu/ |
The American University in Cairo (AUC) is an English-language liberal arts university located in Cairo, Egypt. The university provides educational opportunities to students from different segments of Egyptian society, as well as from other countries, and contributes to Egypt's cultural and intellectual life. The university offers programs at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels, as well as an extensive continuing education program.
The university advances the ideals of American liberal arts and professional education and of life-long learning. As freedom of academic expression is fundamental to this effort, AUC encourages the free exchange of ideas and promotes open and on-going interaction with scholarly institutions throughout Egypt and other parts of the world.
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Historical Development of the University
The American University in Cairo was founded in 1919 by Evangelical Americans dedicated to the cultural enrichment and modernization of Egypt[1]. For its first 27 years the university was shaped by its founding president, Dr. Charles A. Watson. He wanted to create an English-language university based on high standards of conduct and scholarship and to contribute to intellectual growth, discipline, and character of the future leaders of Egypt and the region. He also believed that such a university would greatly improve America's understanding of the area.
Initially, AUC was intended to be both a preparatory school and a university. The preparatory school opened on October 5, 1920, with 142 students in two classes that were equivalent to the last two years of an American high school. The first diplomas issued were junior college-level certificates given to 20 students in 1923. At first an institution only for males, the university enrolled its first female student in 1928, the same year in which the first university class graduated with two B.A.'s and one B.S. degrees awarded. Master's degrees were first offered in 1950.
Originally AUC offered instruction in the arts and sciences and in education. In 1921, the School of Oriental Studies was added to the university, followed in 1924 by the Division of Extension. This division was later renamed the Division of Public Service, and finally evolved into the Center for Adult and Continuing Education. AUC's high school division, known as the Lincoln School, was discontinued in 1951.
In 1956, the School of Oriental Studies was incorporated into the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as the Center for Arabic Studies. The English Language Institute was added the same year. After the Faculty of Education was discontinued in 1961 and degree offerings were dropped from the Division of Public Service, university degree work was consolidated into a single academic structure, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Programs in sociology, anthropology, political science and economics were added to the curriculum and the natural science offerings were significantly expanded.
Two applied research units, the Social Research Center and the Desert Development Center, were established in 1953 and 1979, respectively. Another landmark in the history of the university was the development of professional programs: the departments of Engineering, Computer Science, Journalism and Mass Communication, and Management now offer several degree programs at the Bachelor's and Master's levels.
In 1960, AUC enrolled approximately 400 academic students. By 1969 the university had more than tripled its degree enrollments to over 1,300 students, 450 of whom were pursuing graduate studies. Since then academic program enrollments have grown to 3,890 students at the undergraduate level and 1,013 students at the master's degree level 9 (Fall 2006). Adult education expanded simultaneously and now serves approximately 30,000 individuals each year in non-credit courses and contracted training programs.
In 1993, the academic programs offered through 13 departments were organized into three schools: Humanities and Social Sciences; Sciences and Engineering; and Business, Economics and Communication.
In 2007, the university's Center for Adult and Continuing Education was renamed the School of Continuing Education and in 2008, the Adham Center for TV Journalism was renamed the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism, Training and Research.
Campus
The university's Tahrir Square Campus was originally built in the late 1860s as Khairy Pasha palace and became the AUC campus in the 1920s.
In the summer of 2008, AUC relocated to New Cairo. The New Cairo Campus has an area of approximately 280 acres (1.1 km2) compared to the downtown campus of 7.8 acres (32,000 m2). The campus accommodates about 5,500 full time students as well as 1,500 faculty and staff. Construction of the new campus was estimated to cost around $400 million ($100 million of which was provided by USAID), making it the largest in Egypt. The inauguration of the new campus took place on the February, 7, 2009 and was attended by a number of key persons including Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt's first lady and AUC alumna.
Moving the campus to New Cairo has been controversial due to its distance from the city center and isolated. There were protests due to the move, especially since the new campus was not completed when it was opened.[2]
Research
AUC is dedicated to conducting research within Egypt and the region that advances insight and understanding and addresses current social needs. An important aspect of the university's mission is to enhance and encourage research and provide a climate conducive to maintaining the university at the cutting edge of research and scholarly activities. AUC faculty engage in a variety of research projects and creative activities covering every area of academic inquiry.
Research centers at AUC include the Social Research Center, the Desert Development Center, the Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program, the Institute for Gender and Women's Studies, the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud Center for American Studies and Research, and the Science and Technology Research Center.
Student Community Service Program
The university’s community service program includes more than 10 student-run community service organizations addressing a range of social issues. Students work with children, the elderly, cancer patients, orphans, the blind and the needy. Every service program offers hands-on experience with civic action, an enhanced awareness of the meaning of citizenship, and the opportunity to find solutions and assume a leadership role in the community.
AUC’s Community Service Program connects student clubs with NGOs and other service-based agencies to provide a far-reaching and long-term range of services and activities that target the needy.
Student Organizations
The American University in Cairo's flexible environment enables its students to freely participate in extracurricular activities.
Swine flu outbreak
On June 4 2009 two students arriving from the U.S.A have been diagnosed with the swine flu and the universities dormitory has been put under quarantine. The dormitory contained 140 residents at the time which were all quarantined. As a result of the incident, doubt has been cast about the preventative measures taken at the Cairo Airport. The University suspended classes until 14 June.[3][4]
Notable alumni
- Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt's First Lady.
- Rania Abduallah, HM The Queen of Jordan.
- Gamal Mubarak, Secretary General of the National Democratic Party Policies Committee; and President Hosni Mubarak's son.
- Tarek Amer, deputy governor of Egypt's Central Bank.
- Omar Samra, First Egyptian to climb Mount Everest
- Dan Stoenescu, Romanian diplomat, political scientist and journalist
- Haifa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia's first female filmmaker.
- HH Princess Muzna Al-Qu'aiti, Princess of Hadhramaut.
- Thomas Friedman, columnist with the New York Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
- Hisham Abbas, singer.
- Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, former president of Maldives
- Yuriko Koike, Minister of Defense, Japan
- Melanie Craft, Romance Novelist, Larry Ellison's Wife (Oracle Corporation CEO)
Notable Professors
- Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author
References
- ^ Obrien, Michael B. (2007). Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East; 1776 to the Present. New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.. pp. 778 w/Index. ISBN 978-0-393-05826-0.
- ^ http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-38046120090216
- ^ "Swine flu scare at university dorm in Cairo". BBC. 2009-06-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8090046.stm. Retrieved on 2009-06-09.
- ^ Johnston, Cynthia (2009-06-09). "Egypt quarantines university dorm over H1N1 cases". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/europeCrisis/idUSL8674759. Retrieved on 2009-06-09.
External links
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| Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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