The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has stated that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued a decree to establish Egypt University of Informatics (EUI) as a national university at the Knowledge City in the New Administrative Capital.
The ICT Minister highlighted that the decree reflects the vision of the political leadership and the state’s efforts to qualify young people to become highly-skilled experts in informatics to augment Egypt’s standing in the international information arena, and to provide in-depth education in ICT, in line with the latest advances and academic methodologies. This is in addition to partnering with top-tier universities to empower young people to keep pace with the global technological advances and drive technological innovation to help build Digital Egypt, which involves a large number of projects aimed at capitalizing on modern technologies to achieve progress and development in Egypt.
EUI was founded by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, as the first ICT-related specialized university in the Middle East and Africa. EUI seeks to create a specialized ICT community, and equip young people with digital skills to fill in-demand jobs in local, regional and international labor markets.
Talaat added that establishing EUI is part of MCIT efforts to build an integrated information society and support the growth of the ICT sector in the New Administrative Capital.
The Knowledge City provides EUI students with an environment conducive to innovation as it boasts units, MCIT projects, specialized research centers, ICT training institutes, and incubators for nurturing innovative projects. The City, in addition, includes a technology oasis that hosts international and local companies and banks, helping create training opportunities for students, jobs for graduates, and partnerships in research activities aiming to tackle real-world problems.
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 Design. The academic courses were designed by Egyptian and international experts, in areas including digital transformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), data engineering, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, electronics manufacturing, communication sciences, fintech, data analysis, digital marketing, animation, User Experience (UX), digital game development, and product design. The courses are modelled on those offered in world class universities, taking into account Egyptian quality and accreditation standards.
October is assumed as the official start of the new academic year at the four Faculties, where educational activities will be carried out in the first completed building, which accommodates more than 1,600 students, until the rest of EUI campus is completed within the next three years. To motivate students to apply for EUI first intake, the tuition fees were reduced, and scholarships were announced for top-performing students.
It is worth mentioning that EUI inked agreements with top international universities, including Purdue University, West Lafayette. The aim is to grant students a bachelor's degree in electronics, communications and computer engineering, where students get to spend the first three academic years at EUI, and the last one at Purdue University. EUI also signed an agreement on a professional master's degree in information security.
Furthermore, EUI had an agreement with the University of Minnesota, another top-ranked university in computer science. EUI is also currently negotiating with other international universities, with regards to its disciplines. This reflects EUI strategic goal of providing world-class education in Egypt and ensuring high-quality teaching and learning through modelling the courses offered at EUI on the curricula and courses offered at international partner universities.