Egypt University of Informatics (EUI) was established by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education, at the Knowledge City in the New Administrative Capital. EUI is the first specialized university in ICT sciences and related fields in Africa and the Middle East. As a non-profit national university, EUI aims at offering world-class education and scientific research and providing distinguished ICT academic programs that keep pace with the latest technological developments and meet the needs of the global market.
EUI was established under a Presidential Decree issued by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on 9 August, 2021 to create a new generation of highly skilled professionals in informatics and to provide a specialized education at the highest level in ICT sciences and fields, in accordance with the latest technological developments and academic methods. This is achieved through partnerships with major international universities, aiming to graduate distinguished young calibers capable of keeping pace with global technological developments to become the driving force of technology innovation.
The ICT Minister Amr Talaat has issued a decree to form the EUI Board of Trustees, with the former President of Egypt Counsellor Adly Mansour appointed as a Chair of the Board and Professor of Computer Science Reem Bahgat as President of EUI. The Board of Trustees includes distinguished members of Egyptian competencies working in the ICT sector, university professors and chairs of private companies.
The establishment of EUI at the Knowledge City in the New Administrative Capital comes within the framework of the efforts exerted to build an integrated information society, support the growth of the ICT sector. It also provides an innovation environment to students to benefit from this society with its units and projects affiliated with MCIT, R&D centers, training centers, international and local companies, an embedded software center, a center for innovation in assistive technologies, incubators for innovative projects, a technology oasis hosting international and local companies and banks. This contributes to providing training opportunities for students and job opportunities for graduates.
EUI has four faculties: the Faculty of Computing and Information Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Business Informatics, and the Faculty of Digital Arts and Designs. The first batch of students joined EUI last October. EUI offers Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD degrees through advanced and multi-disciplinary academic programs that focus on new and emerging sciences and technologies to meet the needs of the labor market. The academic programs offered by EUI are designed by Egyptian academic experts, in collaboration with their counterparts in international universities, in various fields, including digital transformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), data engineering, the fourth industrial revolution, electronic manufacturing, communication science, financial technology, data analytics, e-marketing, animation arts, user experience design, electronic games design and art product design in digital arts.
EUI is keen to enter into partnerships and agreements with prestigious top-ranked international universities to provide an opportunity for the students who meet the terms of partnership agreement to obtain a certificate from EUI and a certificate from the foreign partner university.
In this context, a dual-degree agreement was signed with Purdue University, West Lafayette (PWL), ranked as fourth best Engineering School based on U.S. News in 2021, to allow eligible students to obtain bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer engineering. This allows students to study their first years at EUI campus in Egypt and to transfer to the foreign partner university during their senior year. This is in addition to another agreement that was signed with Purdue University, West Lafayette (PWL), ranked as 6th in Cyber Security based on U.S. News in 2021, to offer a professional master’s degree in information security.
EUI also partnered with the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, ranked 29th in computing and information sciences based on U.S. News. EUI is planning to sign more partnership agreements with major international universities specializing in the disciplines it offers to ensure quality of teaching and learning by aligning the curricula and programs offered by EUI with those offered by foreign partner universities.
ICT international companies operating in Egypt are keen to partner with EUI as they believe that its success in graduating calibers specialized in ICT fields will provide them with highly skilled young people. Forms of cooperation between EUI and ICT companies vary, including the provision of training programs for students in a way that contributes to building a skills matrix that qualifies university graduates to work and compete in all labor markets whether as entrepreneurs, freelancers or employees in international companies.
In line with its vision, mission and strategic goals, EUI implemented a program of full scholarships for high school top graduates (under the Presidential Initiative) and has already granted 29 full scholarships in this context. This is in addition to partial scholarships for the first generation of outstanding students. This will contribute to building a community, specialized in new ICT-related fields and to making digital skills available to meet the growing requirements of the local market in particular and the regional and international markets in general.
EUI academic activities are carried out through three pillars. The first is to offer a number of academic courses in line with the requirements of the modern labor market to qualify university graduates to compete effectively in the local and international labor markets. The second pillar is to enter into partnerships with prestigious international academic institutions that have vast experiences in ICT and engineering. The third pillar is to provide young Egyptians with world-class education, as well as granting students the opportunity to spend their last academic year at the foreign partner university.
EUI seeks to achieve a scientific breakthrough with its competencies from inside and outside Egypt and to establish a broad base of experts in informatics and other fields that anticipate the future. It aims to drive a paradigm shift in the ICT sector to help Egypt occupy the position it deserves in this industry at regional and international levels.
MCIT is providing extensive support to EUI, which emphasizes the state’s interest in this type of advanced education and represents an investment for the future. This also reflects MCIT interest in developing digital competencies and technological solutions to overcome the challenges facing the Egyptian society and to build Digital Egypt.
EUI is distinguished by being affiliated with an executive, applied ministry. This provides excellent opportunities to its students to participate in the projects carried out by MCIT. This also links between the theoretical and practical aspects by presenting the projects of MCIT and its affiliates to EUI faculty members and students, which represents a productive field for the application of sciences taught and enriches scientific research within the university.
EUI was established with the vision of becoming a leading local and regional center in ICT and related fields in terms of providing quality teaching and learning; basic and applied scientific research; community development service; environmental development; and creating distinguished calibers, capable of competing globally in ICT and related fields.
The planning for the establishment of EUI is an advanced reflection, since it includes disciplines that represent the future, while keeping pace with the global trend, focusing on new and emerging sciences, integrating technological sciences and meeting market needs.
