The Faculty of Al-Alsun at Ain Shams University organized a cultural day for international students under the patronage of Prof. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, and supervised by Prof. Nasser Abdel-Al, Vice Dean of the Faculty for Education and Student Affairs, and Dr. Elham Badr, Director of the International Students Office at the Faculty, where Prof. Nasser Abdel-Al, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Al-Alsun at Ain Shams University for Education and Student Affairs, opened the activities of the international students Day at the faculty, in the presence of Prof. Sherweit El-Ahmady, Director of the International Students and Mobility Office at the University, and the participation of the Women’s Support and Anti-Violence Unit.

During his opening speech, Prof. Nasser emphasized that paying attention to international students is a top priority for Egyptian universities within the directions of Egypt’s 2030 strategy, and falls under the umbrella of the “Study in Egypt” initiative, which was launched by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. He stressed that the general trend in Egyptian universities today is towards developing the vision of future universities and striving to keep pace with the global trend in the field of improving higher education systems, with the aim of strengthening and advancing the position of Egyptian universities in international classifications.

While Prof. Sherweit El-Ahmady, Director of the International Students and Mobility Office, thanked the faculty administration for its efforts in improving the educational process and attracting international students to study there through its various programs and care for international students, stressing that Ain Shams University had the lead at the level of Egyptian universities in establishing the international relations and academic cooperation sector. It was headed by Prof. Shahira Samir, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Executive Director of the Sector, the sector has developed an effective strategy, in coordination with the university’s faculties, to raise the level of international students at the university, and stated that Ain Shams University today includes students from 84 nationalities from all over the world, and indicated that the Faculty of Al-Alsun played a pivotal role in achieving the goals of the new sector. The most important of these was allocating two days a week to teach non-Arabic speaking students grammar rules to integrate them into studies at Ain Shams University in its various faculties.

She continued her speech by stressing that the sector represents the link between students and the central administration for international students at the Ministry of Higher Education, as well as providing recreational activities, trips, festivals, and cultural seminars for international students, and involving them in activities at the level of Egypt and abroad.

As confirmed by Dr. Elham Badr, Director of the International Students Office at the faculty, said that international students are part of the faculty and are integrated into the various cultural and artistic activities in the faculty, and we seek to solve the problems of international students, whether academic, social, or other problems, quickly. Noting that the scientific department coordinators are making a great effort to guide and care for the expatriates in all possible ways.

The head of the Arabic Language Department at the Faculty of Al-Alsun, Prof. Wajih Yaqoub spoke about the importance of the Non-Arabic Speakers Department, as the Department for Non-Arabic Speakers was established in 1994, and witnessed the graduation of a large number of students who have now obtained doctoral degrees. The faculty is also unique in the world with an international program for the Arabic language for non-native speakers, and it works to provide broad services to all departments of the faculty, as it relies on translation to and from the Arabic language.

Prof. Mervat Ali, Head of the Chinese Language Department at the faculty, gave a speech about the extent of the spread of the study of the Chinese language and the interest of international students in studying it, as the department includes more than 80 international students. The Women’s Support and Anti-Violence Unit at the university, headed by Prof. Hind Al-Hilali participated by workshop dedicated to international students to integrate them into Egyptian society and explain how to deal with the different situations they face as new students.

Today also witnessed that Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Salwa Rashad honored a number of international students at the faculty for their participation in the International Students Day activities and in all of the faculty various activities.