Participants in the opening ceremonies from the German delegation included the German Ambassador to Egypt Michael Bock, Vice President of the Berlin House of Representatives Anja Schillhaneck, and Berlin's State Secretary for Science and Research Nicolas Zimmer, and the President of TU Berlin. Klaus Wowereit, Berlin's Governing Mayor, has sent a message of greeting. The Egyptian delegation included high-level government officials such as the Minister of Scientific Research Dr. Nadia Zakhary, and governor of the Red See Region General Mohamed Mohamed Kamel, who all voiced unreserved praise for the new TU Campus.
Three advanced TU Berlin Master programmes are now offered in El Gouna: "Energy Engineering", "Water Engineering" and "Urban Development". During the opening ceremonies TU Berlin President Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Steinbach and Mr. Samih Sawiris personally presented the first 30 students with their matriculation certificates. The entire project has been realised with monies donated by the benefactor, co-initiator and TU graduate Samih Sawiris. The property and infrastructure were made available by Orascom Development Holding AG (ODH), which was established by Samih Sawiris.
Impetus for exemplary "Education transfer"
The realisation of such exemplary education transfer to the Red Sea is primarily due to the vision of TU graduate and entrepreneur Samih Sawiris. Samih Sawiris studied Industrial Engineering at TU Berlin from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. The original idea was developed in 2006 by the Egyptian entrepreneur and then TU President Prof. Dr. Kurt Kutzler. Samih Sawiris' unflagging commitment and generous contributions to the overall financing was the main feature of this project. In El Gouna, in close cooperation with the university he put together a non-profit public private partnership (PPP) in order to establish a 10,000-square meter branch of the TU. Facilities include laboratories, lecture halls and main auditorium. ODH is responsible for maintaining and operating the building infrastructures.
Legal frameworks
As a branch of TU Berlin, the TU Campus El Gouna is wholly subject to German University Law. An accord reached between the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, the Academic Administration of the Berlin Senate and TU Berlin made it possible to apply Berlin University Law in Egypt and to adopt the privileges and goals of the German-Egyptian Cultural Agreement of 1960, and ancillary agreement of 1984 and Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement between Germany and Egypt since 1981. The academic bases of the three degree programmes were modelled on the standards developed for university education and adopted by the European education ministers in 1999 in Bologna, and also approved by Berlin Senator for Education. Students are enrolled at TU Berlin according to German law, and as such have full TU student status. Teachers and researchers are subject to German work and salary laws, in addition to TU Berlin collective agreements. A corresponding cooperation agreement between TU Berlin and the Egyptian firm Orascom guarantees TU Berlin the university's academic and administrative independence.
The TU Campus El Gouna is administered by the Central Institute El Gouna of TU Berlin. It enjoys all the functions of a university faculty, and as such has jurisdiction over the most important academic decisions. Initially, the campus will create 30 new jobs.
Three advanced Master programmes
These four-semester advanced Master courses are fee-based engineering science degree programmes leading to a Master of Science. The first 30 students have already enrolled at TU Berlin for the winter term 2012/13. They come from Egypt, South Africa, India, China and Bangladesh. A total of 20 scholarships have been awarded. Thirty on-campus apartments are available for TU Berlin students.
The main emphasis of the degree programmes and the planned research priorities of the Central Institute focus on the specific challenges facing the Near/Middle East and North Africa region. The rapid growth of the Egyptian population (1.3 million people each year) requires that new geographical areas be developed to house the country's people. The essential prerequisites here are sustainable water and energy supplies. Graduates of the three degree programmes will be particularly well qualified to actively shape approaches to generating energy from renewable sources such as the sun and wind, in addition to securing water supplies through desalinisation and recycling schemes. Key issues such as how to design rural and urban infrastructures will be addressed in context of urban development and planning endeavours.
Academic deans have already been designated for the degree programmes: for "Energy Engineering“ Prof. Dr. Felix Ziegler (area of expertise: Machine and Plant Engineering); for "Urban Development" Prof. Dr. Rudolf Schäfer (area of expertise: Building Law and Real Estate Management); and for "Water Engineering" Prof. Dr. Uwe Troeger (area of expertise: hydrogeology). In addition to acquiring professional skills, overarching academic goals are also pursued in all three Master degrees: interdisciplinarity, sustainability and resource conservation, team skills, in addition to intercultural management competencies. Seventy-five percent of study courses are taken in Egypt and all students will spend their second semester at the "mother university" in Berlin. Tuition fees amounting to 5000 Euro per semester will be levied. Scholarships are available for students. Beyond the three Master programmes, future plans call for additional Master degrees, Doctoral programmes, regional research and continuing education programmes for managers from the region, in addition to conferences.
In keeping with the ongoing transformation process in Egypt and the region, and in line with the goals of the German-Egyptian Cultural Agreement, TU Berlin is purposely underscoring the importance of this location as its permanent representation in the promotion of cultural dialogue between the Arab world and Germany.
El Gouna - Centre of learning excellence
The new branch of TU Berlin was established as a private institution by Samih Sawiris, an Egyptian TU alumnus and is located in the city of El Gouna with its 22,000 inhabitants. The entrepreneur purchased the property situated about 22 kilometres north-west of Hurghada in 1990. He has since developed around 37 square kilometres of desert into a 'lagoon landscape' for tourism (El Gouna). In addition to 15 Hotels and 2500 private buildings, there is now a hotel school, international high school leading to university entrance qualifications, a school of nursing, and branches of the American University Cairo and Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The new TU Campus is located near to these two educational facilities.
