In a speech at the opening of the niversity's Sixth Environment Week, president of the Suez Canal University Mamdouh Ghorab said that “the Environmental Affairs and Social Services Sector at the university are important because they are investment sectors,” adding that they are “sources of funding for the university in implementing a successful economic model that serves the whole of society.” The week was organised by the Environmental Affairs and Social Services Sector at the Suez Canal University and ran from 1 to 5 April. It was attended by representatives of all the university's faculties. Ghorab said that there had been a leap in the environmental sector in the current period since the university now had better services, relationships, communications and a more successful overall shape and structure. He expressed his wish that the role of the environmental sector would extend to more services, more courses, and more effective communication, and that it would go beyond the campus walls to introduce society to what was going on inside the university and the service it offers. Ghorab said that environmental health was especially important as the Higher Council of Universities, the body overseeing the higher-education sector, had asked the university to supervise work other universities in the region were doing because of the experience it had acquired. “The university was established to serve society, and it is now a centre of culture and enlightenment. The Environmental Affairs Sector is what makes things happen, since it is the motor that pushes the university forward,” he commented. During his speech, head of environmental development at the university Atef Abul-Nour said that the Suez Canal University was a beacon for the Suez Canal and Sinai area. He showcased the services that his unit offers and shed light on some of its services, including the Institute of Aquaculture and its high-level training courses. He discussed the university's role in veterinary services, agriculture and health education. He said that 28 extra-mural initiatives had been organised each year during which training had been made available and medical cases referred to the University Hospital in Ismailia. This was in addition to the environmental projects offered by the university, among them waste-recycling and studies on the evaluation of the environmental effects of various projects. Abul-Nour said that “there will be participation from the faculties of the university during the Environment Week that includes cleaning, painting sidewalks, presenting lectures about the importance of maintaining environmental and water resources, planting trees and plants, and decorating different faculties. In addition, the faculties of nursing and medicine will start a campaign to measure people's blood pressure and blood-sugar levels as part of a broader medical and environmental awareness campaign.”