Egyptian higher education minister, Korean ambassador discuss cooperation on science, technology

 

Both sides exchanged views on furthering developing technical education and Korean language education in particular, while expressing their appreciation of ongoing cooperation. 

 

 

Ambassador Kim mentioned that he is glad that Egypt, as a priority ODA partner country of Korea, is implementing a number of mutual cooperation projects in the field of education, which is one of the five main areas of cooperation between the two nations. Ambassador Kim vowed to continue to make efforts to enhance development cooperation in the field of education.

 

 

In particular, the Korean Ambassador said  that the first phase of the cooperation project between KOICA and Beni Suef University of Technology was successfully completed last year, and that the second phase of the project worth $8 million will be implemented starting this year. The main goal of the second phase is to strengthen academic industrial education through the opening of a railway department, adding that he hopes to strengthen communication between the Korean Embassy and the Ministry of Higher Education to ensure the successful implementation of the second phase of the project.

 

 

The Korean government has provided approximately US$340 million in the forms of developmental loans and grants to Egypt, and Egypt ranks tenth in terms of the volume of development aid among 139 recipients of ODA from Korea over the past five years (2018-2022) with very active and ongoing mutual development cooperation. Since 2021, the Korean government has been working to strengthen development cooperation by selecting Egypt as a priority partner country for ODA in five key cooperative areas: education, transportation, environment/energy, communications and public administration.

 

 

About 70 Egyptian students studied in Korea through the Global Korea Study (GKS) scholarship program in the field of higher education, most of whom are master’s and doctoral students. And more than 1,800 Egyptian government employees also participated in short- and long-term training programs in Korea through KOICA programs. In addition, about 130 government employees completed master's degrees through KOICA programs.

 

 

 

For his part, Minister Ashour agreed that cooperation between Egypt and Korea in the field of higher education is progressing very actively, expressing his gratitude for Ambassador Kim’s congratulatory speech at the first graduation ceremony for three technical universities, including Beni Suef Technical University last September. The Minister added that he hopes that Korea would be able to contribute more to the development of higher education in Egypt by exploring various cooperative projects in the field of higher education in the upcoming stage.

 

 

At the same time, Minister Ashour also said that he is now witnessing great eagerness and enthusiasm in Egypt for learning the Korean language, and suggested active cooperation between the two countries in order to promote Korean language teaching in Egyptian universities.

 

 

In addition, Ambassador Kim and the Minister Dr. Ashour discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the field of science and technology. Ambassador Kim said that Korea has become one of the seven space powers in the world by successfully launching the “Nuri” spacecraft that Korea developed itself this year, suggesting that efforts be made to find new ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the fields of science and technology, including space development. Minister Ashour urged the two sides to work together to enhance cooperation in the field of science and technology, stressing its importance.

 

 

The meeting was also attended by the Head of Economic Affairs at the Korean Embassy, Mr. Oh Sanghun, the Director of the KOICA Office in Cairo, Ms. Kim Jinyoung, and the Head of Cultural Affairs and Mission Sector, Prof. Sherif Saleh, the Advisor to minister for international cooperation, Prof.Salma Yousry from the Egyptian side.