The British University in Egypt (BUE) and its partner, London South Bank University (LSBU) organised a conference on Tuesday on the international challenges and opportunities in higher education.
The conference, held in London in conjunction with the LSBU’s 125th anniversary celebrations, addressed the contribution that British and Egyptian universities can make for graduate employment, modern education methods, and improving the students’ skills.
Speaking at the conference, Ahmed Hamad, BUE President, said higher education around the world is changing rapidly and universities face major challenges including increased global competition, rapid technological change, and changing work skills and patterns.
This in return will drive universities to play bigger role by creating a graduate manpower capable of facing such changes, Hamad added, stressing the importance of providing the university students with education in different science disciplines.
The BUE seeks to arouse a tangible change in its curricula by building an educational system where various science disciplines and knowledge are mingled together, to help graduates deal with global market needs, its president further said.
The British University is always keen to establish institutional partnership with several British universities, Hamad said, revealing an agreement with the LSBU, one of the oldest and largest universities in London, where the latter would open an office in the BUE in Cairo next February.
The LSBU’s office in BUE’s campus will help exchange joint expertise between the two universities as well as assist BUE students in applying for a master’s degree or postgraduate and virtual learning studies in the LSBU, he added.
With impressive milestones in the history of vocational and professional education, the LSBU recently named University of the Year for Graduate Employment by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018 and among the UK’s top 20 universities to study law by the Guardian.
LSBU also looks forward to exciting and ambitious times ahead. It has set itself a target to be London’s top Modern University by 2020 and strives to continue transforming lives.
Among the attendees, Nasser Kamel, ambassador of Egypt to the United Kingdom, has commended the British education and stressed the importance of maximizing the cooperation between Egypt and the UK in field of education.
Egypt is undergoing a dramatic change process for all sectors, on the top of the list is the education development, Kamel said.
BUE has invited an Egyptian media delegation consisting of editors-in-chief of national, private, and specialised newspaper to take part in the conference and discuss ways to develop the higher education system in Egypt.
Egypt has risen to the 100th place out of 137 countries ranked in the 2017 Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum. The country is witnessing a clear decline in the level of quality of education.
