Seventy-four young women from Egypt are set to travel to the United States under the U.S.-Egypt Higher Education Initiative (HEI). This program, launched in April, is a multi-year $250 million effort by the U.S. government to provide scholarships for over 1,900 Egyptian students. The initiative supports studies at leading institutions in both Egypt and the United States.
The HEI program includes scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) for high-achieving young women from low-income families in Egypt to study in the United States. At a ceremony held on July 28 in Cairo, USAID/Egypt Education Director Katie Donohoe stated: “These girls join the ranks of thousands of Egyptians who have participated in exchange opportunities with the United States and then gone on to become leaders in medicine, law, education, business, engineering, agriculture, and the sciences.”
Yara Hazem, a STEM undergraduate scholar expressed her aspirations: “I want to study artificial intelligence and return to Egypt and share what I learned. I want to become a pioneer in this field. Maybe I’ll be the founder of the first corporation that manufactures robots in Egypt.” Meanwhile, MBA scholarship recipient Mary Adel remarked: “It’s an opportunity to get a competitive degree, to further our studies, and to collaborate with different people from different cultures and to show the power of our dreams – the dreams of Egyptian women that are working hard to make a difference to their country.”
Mr. Lamloum Moussa from Egypt's Ministry of Education congratulated the scholarship winners saying they are deserving and will succeed. The HEI initiative also aims to foster partnerships between Egyptian and American universities which will facilitate knowledge exchange and joint research particularly in areas like agribusiness, engineering, and entrepreneurship.
For more information about HEI or related resources visit http://egypt.usembassy.gov or watch their video at http://goo.gl/ZSMvc1.