AUC Signs MOU with The Ministry of Education to Promote USAID Scholars Activity Program

The American University in Cairo (AUC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education to promote the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Scholars Activity program in schools. The USAID Scholars Activity program, implemented and managed by AUC, offers scholarships to 140 Egyptian public school students in the academic year 2020 - 2021 to study at AUC and Egyptian public and private universities. AUC's partner universities in the program are Ain Shams University, Alexandria University, Cairo University, Assiut University, Mansoura University, and Zewail City of Science and Technology.

"We are happy with the opportunities that the USAID Scholars Activity program provides to Thanaweya Amma high school students and proud of the 140 students who received the scholarships this academic year," said Tarek Shawky, minister of education and technical education. He added: “the Ministry spares no effort to develop the skills of our students by providing them with all the available excellent educational opportunities.”

The $36 million USAID Scholars program targets 700 students from Egypt's 27 governorates over ten years. The targeted students are identified by high academic excellence, leadership potential, and financial need. The program's majors for the first cohort are agriculture, energy, water, computer science, environmental engineering, journalism, data science, business, and economics.

“We look forward to our collaboration with the Ministry of Education,” said Ehab Abdel-Rahman, AUC provost. “Such collaboration will ensure that talented students in public schools will have an opportunity to apply to The USAID Scholars Activity program and get a chance to excel in their chosen field of study.”

The USAID Scholars activity will cover five consecutive cohorts, and the selection process commits to gender balance and overall accessibility. This year, 65 female and 75 male students, including 13 students with disabilities, joined the cohort to advance diversity and higher education inclusion.

AUC has welcomed 25 students, Assiut, Mansoura, and Ain Shams have each welcomed 23 students, while 22 students have joined Alexandria University. Seventeen students have joined Cairo University, and seven have joined Zewail City of Science and Technology.

This year, 24 % of students chose an engineering major as the top major of choice, followed by agriculture.

This collaboration between USAID and AUC contributes to Egypt's 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) by instilling the pillars of knowledge, innovation and scientific research, economic development, and environmental responsibility in the activity's core infrastructure.