Egypt will set up university for modern sciences, technology
Egypt will set up a university for modern sciences and technology to place the country on the road of advanced sciences, 1999 Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zewail announced on Wednesday.
President Hosni Mubarak will chair its board of trustees, he said after a meeting with the President.
Zewail received the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering a revolution in chemistry by using rapid-fire laser flashes that illuminate the motion of atoms in a molecule.
The new university will be provided with the most advanced technology equipment, enroll Egyptian and Arab students and will be financed by the Egyptian government, Egyptian businessmen and Arabs interested in promoting scientific research in the region, Zewail said.
Its location remains under study, but once decided, its construction will begin immediately upon President Mubarak's directives, he added.
The university will include students who have graduated from high school with high grade point averages and masters and Ph.D. candidates, he said.
Zewail said he asked President Mubarak to chair the board of trustees that will include Egyptians, Arabs, businessmen, Egyptian and foreign scientists.
It is very important for this university to include renowned scientists from around the world who have received scientific awards, he added
Zewail said he will contact Prime Minister Atef Ebeid to examine the project of the new university.
He believed the project would be completed in five years, adding that he will remain in touch with Egypt from California via. Satellites and faxes to follow up its construction.
He said the new university aims at preparing new youth with a new kind of technology and science at world level, increasing the national product through being part of world technology and not purchasing it and helping universities and research centers in the Arab states.
Direct contacts will be held with Egyptian officials especially that President Mubarak is interested in scientific and technological progress, he added. Work at the project will start as soon as possible, he said.