Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of Ain Shams University, participated in the celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the signing of the Sawiris Scholarship Agreement with the University of Chicago, in the presence of Prof. Dr. Hala Al-Saeed, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Mr. Hassan Abdullah, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, Eng. Nassef Sawiris, CEO of Orascom Construction Industries, Prof. John W. Boyer, Dean of the University of Chicago School of Economics, Prof. Dr. Dina Rashid, Assistant Dean, University of Chicago, Prof. Dr. Khaled Kadri, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Ain Shams University, Prof. Dr. Hiyam Wehbe, representative of the Chicago Convention for Ain Shams University and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Commerce for Postgraduate Studies and Research, and a group of representatives from the University of Chicago and the Sawiris Foundation, and the attendees from Cairo and Alexandria Universities and the American University in Cairo.

In her speech, Prof. Dr. Hala Al-Saeed expressed her deep gratitude to the Sawiris Foundation for the support it provided for scientific and cultural exchange between Egypt and the United States of America, as well as to the University of Chicago for its role in promoting mutual understanding and deepening solidarity in the fields of culture, education, and research, and continued that studying abroad for students allowed them to look at the challenges of the world through A global vision, explaining that when it comes to climate change or food security, a global language must be used to adapt and expand knowledge about the issues being faced.

Eng. Nassef Sawiris explained that the student exchange program with the University of Chicago achieved what was planned in developing cadres with distinguished education and prestigious positions. Some students held several positions in a number of ministries and giant institutions in Egypt, adding that work has been done over the past few years to expand the program. The exchange of students at the University of Chicago Sawiris to include other Egyptian universities, and to increase the student’s sense of seriousness and commitment, work has been done to ensure the continuity and growth of the program, especially after allocating a source of funding for it.

On the role of Ain Shams University, Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Meteini, President of the University, expressed his great happiness with this agreement, praising the role played by all those in charge of this program as well as Prof. Dr. Hayam Wehbe, representative of the agreement on behalf of Ain Shams University and students from the participating teams, explaining that since the signing of the agreement between Ain Shams University, the American University of Chicago and the Sawiris Foundation in 2019, 15 students from the Faculty of Commerce received this scholarship and traveled to study a full year at the University of Chicago, in addition to winning a number 2 students on a scholarship to complete their studies and graduate from the University of Chicago.

As presented by Prof. Dr. Khaled Qadri, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, thanks to all parties to the agreement represented by the administration of Ain Shams University, headed by Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Meteini and the University of Chicago represented by Prof. Dr. Dina Rashed, Assistant Dean of the University, and Eng. Nassef Sawiris, founder of the Sawiris Group, as well as Prof. Dr. Hayam Wehbe, General Representative of the agreement for Ain Shams University and the Vice-Dean for Postgraduate Studies and Research, who joined together to provide the utmost effort to support students and make this agreement a success so that it bears fruit from the weight of the knowledge of the learners and provides them with scientific and cultural experiences that qualify them to keep pace with the current developments of the labor market and achieve the desired benefit for their fellow students, their university and their country Egypt.

Prof. Dr. Hayam Wehbe, the general representative of the agreement for Ain Shams University, stated that according to the terms that were agreed upon, a number of the first students applied for credit hours programs in the English language at the college to obtain the scholarship offered by the American University of Chicago, and resulted in the victory of a number of students divided into 4 students During the academic year 2020/2021, and 6 students in the year 2021/2022, and during the current academic year 2022/2023, 5 students from the university obtained this scholarship, as they studied 12 scientific courses equivalent to other courses of fourth year majoring in finance and economics, bearing in mind that this scholarship will allow these students to study some courses at the postgraduate level, in addition to entering training programs inside and outside the university.

It is worth noting that the University of Chicago is ranked among the top 10 universities in the world, and more than 16,000 students are currently enrolled in multiple faculties and programs in various fields of arts, sciences, business administration, and various other disciplines.