Egyptian Al-Azhar university to open affiliate in Indonesia

Rector of the Egyptian ancient university Al Azhar, Prof. Ahmad Omar Hashim, will visit Indonesia in the near future to study the opening of an affiliate of the university in Jakarta, reports Indonesian news agency ANTARA.

Indonesia's ambassador to Egypt, Quraish Shihab, confirmed the news to ANTARA, saying that a delegation of the University will leave for Jakarta in mid-September this year for that purpose.

Shihab who is also an alumnus of Al Azhar University said a plan to establish an affiliate in Indonesia has gained great support from many circles in Egypt.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Education and Culture Attache in Cairo, Sukarna Syarif, disclosed that the Al Azhar University and Indonesia have reached two agreements.

Firstly, Al Azhar will establish an educational institution of elementary, junior and senior high school levels in Indonesia. Secondly, the University and the Indonesian Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) will jointly develop a faculty of Islamic studies.

The agreement will be officially signed in Jakarta next month.

Al Azhar, established 1000 years ago, is an old higher learning institution tasked with developing Islamic propagation through education.

In addition, the Egyptian university has also been engaged in a number of cooperation projects with some well known foreign universities such as Cambridge University of Britain, Sorbonne University in France and Harvard University in the United States.