Riga Technical University (RTU) has signed a cooperation agreement with the German University in Cairo (GUC). Signing of the memorandum was held during the visit of the GUC delegation at RTU on May 30th, 2014. Members of the GUC delegation met with representatives of the educational, research and business environments from the 28th until the 31st of May, 2014 to discuss potential cooperation possibilities.
The delegation was lead by the founder and Chairman of the board of GUC Professor Ashraf Mansour. Mr. Mansour was accompanied by Director of International Policy Planning Department Amb. Nihad Zikry, and Head of Student Affairs Ms. Yomna El Shazly.
After signing the agreement between RTU and GUC Professor Mansour expressed his satisfaction with the visit to Latvia and was hopeful in his thoughts of further development: «I wish to build a strategic partnership, which is much more than an agreement between two universities. This is the reason I am giving very high importance and am willing to invest in this cooperation. We could start with exchange of information, joint research, exchange of students and staff. »
During the visit the GUC delegation took the opportunity of meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) of Latvia; during the meeting cooperation possibilities in science and education were discussed. MES suggested developing joint study programs in engineering fields which GUC has specialized in between RTU and GUC.
«Since we are on the way towards implementation of a new strategy which sets internationalization as a priority, cooperation with GUC is very important for RTU. Hopefully it will help us achieve our main goal as a technical university – promotion of engineering sciences on the basis of technological development,» said the RTU Rector Academician Leonīds Ribickis.
The delegation met and discussed potential cooperation directions with the Chairman of the Latvian Higher Education Council Mr. Jānis Vētra, founder and owner of the School of Business Administration „Turiba” Mr. Aigars Rostovskis as well as the Head of the Export Promotion Department of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency Mr. Andris Pārups.
Professor Ashraf Mansour established GUC in 2002. In the 12 years of its existence this university has become the second biggest and most prestigious private higher educational institution in Egypt and is closely cooperating with European higher educational institutions. GUC has gained a reputation of being the best higher educational institution in engineering sciences in Egypt. An international industrial park, that not only provides appropriate environment for research, but also enables industrial manufacturing, is operating under the auspices of GUC.
