The Ministry of Higher Education in Egypt has decided the fate of students enrolled in universities through scholarships provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), following the Agency’s decision to suspend funding for the programs.
Students benefiting from USAID programs were informed on Saturday of a decision to suspend all USAID programs worldwide for 90 days.
The Supreme Council of Universities in Egypt held an emergency meeting headed by the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Ayman Ashour on Tuesday evening, in the presence of the Secretary of the Council, Mostafa Refaat, and the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at the American University in Cairo, Ehab Abdel-Rahman.
The meeting discussed resolving the problem facing students benefiting from US scholarships.
These include students enrolled in Egyptian universities on scholarships provided by the USAID, and the status of 1,077 undergraduate students on Agency scholarships, distributed among 877 students in Egyptian public, private and civil universities, and 200 students at the AUC.
The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research announced that, out of concern for the future of students, each university will commit to all the allocations and tuition fees that the USAID had allocated to scholarship students until the end of the second semester.
“The ministry and universities will remain committed to supporting these students to face any future challenges,” Ashour pledged.
The Council was informed that the AUC will bear the expenses of the 200 Egyptian students registered on scholarships during the second semester, with continued coordination with the Ministry in this regard in the future.
The Ministry of Higher Education added in a statement that for the rest of the universities, whether governmental, or private, no student studying within the scholarships provided will be negatively impacted, assuring that the universities “will cover the entire scholarship” through study expenses or accommodations.
