Exclusive interview by Hamed Mahmoud
The University of Hertfordshire in Egypt has successfully participated in the 8thedition of the international forum; “Edu Gate 2021”. The forum was conducted under the auspices of Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, together with Dr. Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications & Information Technology. “Edu Gate” has lasted for three consecutive days, from the 9th to the 11th of March, and came under the motto of “The higher education…10 years into the future.”
In this regard, Mr. Ashraf Halim, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Global Academic Foundation (GAF), mentioned a couple of facts pertinent to the University of Hertfordshire (UH-GAF), during an interview with the Egyptian Gazette Newspaper. GAF is the foundation that introduced the University of Hertfordshire to the Egyptian education scene, hence hosted its educational and international branch campus at the New Administrative Capital. Supporting and reinforcing UH-GAF stemmed from GAF’s keenness to bring about innovative and exciting multidisciplinary programs and degrees to Egypt, aiming to empower the Egyptian education sector at large.
During his interview, Halim also explainedthat his foundation relentlessly looks forward to embracing the national, regional, and international changes occurring in the realm of Higher Education through providing the Egyptian youth with robust educational skills and tools, in order to create cadres of future leaders.
Based on Halim’s explanation, it is noteworthy that UH-GAF is a promising university with a Gold Rating from the UK Teaching Excellence Framework, which means that the UK Government had recognized the University of Hertfordshire as a top-notch provider of quality higher education. Additionally, UH-GAF offers exceptional and multidisciplinary programs as well as offerunique specializations, empoweredby the industry insights, for the sake of developingcompetenciesrequired for successful professional careers in various fields, such as Physiotherapy, Pharmacy, Business Administration, Mass Communication, Engineering, Computer Science, and many other certified majors.
Halim also pointed out that UH-GAF’s campus is deemed to be a full-fledged facilitythat was established under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education of Egypt. He also mentioned that the campus can accommodateup to15,000 students, on a land of nearly 50acres, subject to expansion. Currently, the main campus comprises fourbuildings, one of which is under construction and will be inaugurated next August. The spacious, well-equipped campus provides the space for a healthy and vibrant student life, by offering a fully equipped gym facility, four fields for team and individual sports and a food courtfor the famous Casper &Gambini’s F&B brand and a fully-functional supermarket.
Halim’s previous statements came in line with the country’s direction towards turning the New Administrative Capital into an educational hub that offers unique and international educational models. That is to say, Halim made it clear that GAF’s strategy aims at creating a new generation of entrepreneurs through wielding the practical and theoretical approaches into the education process.
Indeed, this step comes under the umbrella of Egypt’s 2030 vision, which focuses on improving the quality of higher education, and providing researchers with the required knowledge.
