Prof. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty of Al-Alsun at Ain Shams University, received His Excellency Rui Tereno, Ambassador of Portugal to Cairo, in the presence of Dr. Irma González - Portuguese Cultural Advisor, Prof. Ass. Reham Ezzat, Head of the Portuguese Language Department, in cooperation with Prof. Karina Filippi, and Mrs. Sofia Suleiman, in the presence of a group of students from the four teams and faculty members in the department, as part of the Portuguese Language Department’s celebration of International Portuguese Language Day.

During her speech, Prof. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, said that the celebration of International Portuguese Language Day coincides with the passage of 5 years since the opening of the Portuguese Language Department in the academic year (2019-2020), which was based on presidential directives and within the framework of a tripartite cooperation protocol between Ain Shams University, the University of Porto in Portugal, and the Camoes Institute.

This department was opened due to the importance of the Portuguese language and the existing political and economic relations between Egypt and Portugal. In light of this, the department’s graduates are expected to meet the requirements of the labor market in the fields of translation and interpretation, tourism, investment, media, and other fields.

She pointed to the pivotal role played by the Portuguese Embassy and the Camões Institute in supporting and creating a healthy and fruitful climate for teaching the Portuguese language in the Portuguese Language Department at the Faculty of Al-Alsun. The first class of the Portuguese Language Department was graduated in the academic year 2022-2023 as a culmination of cooperation between the Egyptian and Portuguese sides.

It is worth noting on this occasion that the first three students from this batch will be appointed to the department as assistant staff, and after obtaining their master’s and doctoral degrees, they will carry the banner in the future in the field of the Portuguese language in Egypt and at the regional level.

She continued her speech, noting that the Faculty of Al-Alsun at Ain Shams University had taken the first steps in cooperation with the Portuguese side in order to overcome all obstacles and challenges that could hinder the path of these students in order to complete their academic career, whether at the university level or at the post-university level in the graduate studies stage.

She announced that it had been agreed to support the Portuguese Language Department in its academic career by providing a group of scholarships in addition to supporting the department with some faculty members. The Egyptian side also provided everything related to infrastructure and contributed some teaching elements in order to continue the academic progress of this department.

She expressed her thanks to His Excellency Rui Terreno, the Portuguese Ambassador to Cairo, to Dr. Irma Gonzalez, the Cultural Advisor, and all the members of the diplomatic staff from the Portuguese Embassy, in addition to all the representatives of the Camões Institute, who all contributed to the success of this department.

She also extended my sincere thanks and appreciation to all the Portuguese and Egyptian faculty members of the Portuguese Language Department, under the chairmanship of Prof. Ass. Dr. Reham Ezzat, Head of the Portuguese Language Department, who spares no effort in serving the department and achieving its goal.

His Excellency the Ambassador of Portugal, Mr. Rui Terreno, also gave a speech in which he expressed his happiness at visiting the Faculty of Al-Alsun for the second time since assuming his position in Cairo. He also expressed his happiness at the efforts he witnessed of the students in the field of language activities and skills. He also praised the efforts of those in charge of teaching and the support of the Portuguese Language Department for these activities. He expressed his deep thanks to Professor Dr. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, for her constant support and efforts for the Portuguese Language Department to continue spreading the language and culture.

Ass. Prof. Reham Ezzat, Head of the Portuguese Language Department, delivered a speech in which she welcomed the Ambassador of Portugal and all of the attendees, and thanked his constant efforts in supporting the Portuguese Language Department at the Faculty of Al-Alsun, and the students, under the supervision of Dr. Irma Gonzalez, Carina Felipe, and Sofia Suleiman, presented a group of activities with students from the Portuguese Language Department. This year, the activities highlighted the “Literary Tourism Parks” initiative, and these activities won the admiration of everyone in attendance.

In addition to the tourism activity that calls for exploring six Portuguese cities and a group of famous writers, their literary styles, and their most important works performed by students, student Alaa Galal Rakha from the third year was honored for receiving a prize within the framework of the fourth edition of the competition held under the supervision of the Camões Center under the title “Tales from the World Portuguese Language Day”, at the children and youth level B1/B2, and the student’s story under the title “Basics of Merit” in the new field of short stories won an award for excellence.

This was followed by a presentation of two audio-visual works produced by the students. The first, written by sophomores who celebrated the 500th anniversary of the birth of Louis de Camões by reciting the poem “Love is a fire that burns without anyone seeing it” and was filmed in several emblematic places in Cairo (such as the Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids of Giza); The second, an advertisement for the film “Cats Have No Vertigo” by António-Pedro Vasconcelos, was translated into Arabic by fourth-year students, and the entire film was translated as part of the translation course in which Mr. Ammar El-Hafnawy trains the students as one of the translation activities in the department.

In addition, a cultural competition was held in which students from all teams participated on Portuguese culture in terms of linguistics, literature, and various other topics, and prizes were presented to the winning students.