Al-Ahram: A Diwan of contemporary life (627) By the sea By the late 1930s, it had become apparent that Egypt was in need of a new university. Some colleges had exhausted their means and had become unable to accept prospective students. Thus was born the idea of a university at the seaport. Professor Yunan Labib Rizk follows the inception of Alexandria University As official documents confirm, Alexandria University came into being on 2 August 1942. Its birth certificate indicates that its first name was Farouq I University, after the Egyptian University in Cairo was named after his father Fouad I. This trend tempted some into naming Assuit University, at the time of its establishment, after the founder of the dynasty, Muhammad Ali. It was an unusual tradition, for as far as we know until that time no university in the East or West had been named after a ruler regardless of his standing. Rather, universities were typically named after the place in which they were located: Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, etc. What is stranger, however, is that when thought was first given to establishing a university in the seaport there was actually agreement on the name Alexandria University. In fact, this agreement led some to request changing the name of the Egyptian University to Cairo University in reference to its location. This matter was made clear in a letter published in Al-Ahram by Professor Mustafa Fahmi in which he wrote, "There is no doubt that the establishment of Alexandria University will prove to heighten the irregularity surrounding the naming of Cairo University, for the Egyptian University is an unjustified title. Universities are named after the places of their location and when they multiply in Egypt they will all be Egyptian universities. The foreign professors at Cairo University cannot conceal their perplexity over its naming." At the end of his letter, Fahmi urged Minister of Education Heikal Pasha to "lift the anomaly of the naming so that Cairo University and Alexandria University can preserve their great scientific deeds". The letter was published on 19 June 1938. Less than two months later a news item was published stating that the Department of Government Affairs was consumed with devising the new university's bylaw, which would provide for its complete independence from Fouad I University in Cairo, and that it would be called Farouq I University. This transformation to royal names took place during the summer vacation, perhaps to avoid any possible student protests. At the same time it embodied adulation for the young king by whose hand and approval the Muhammad Mahmoud government had been formed. What is also strange is that the idea of establishing a new university was first put forward in late 1937 and in the following year measures were first taken to bring this idea into being. Work began in the colleges of law and arts during the 1938-1939 academic year. These two colleges, however, remained branches of their counterparts in the mother university, perhaps due to limited demand or possibly as a result of the conditions of war. In the war's initial years the axis forces of Italy and Germany advanced until nearly reaching Alexandria in 1942. They were halted at the famous site of Al-Alamein and during this period the seaport city witnessed a mass emigration of its residents. It was not anticipated under these conditions that the new university would be opened, and thus the pregnant state lengthened to four years. Yet while the birth date of Alexandria University is well known, not many are aware of the details of its conception. The initiative came from Ahmed Lutfi El-Sayed Pasha, the director of the Egyptian University. On 6 October 1937 he proposed to its board the establishment of a new university in Alexandria, and shored up his proposal with convincing support. "He began by mentioning the reasons that led him to think of it and pointed out the growing increase of secondary education and how the number of those with baccalaureate diplomas in 1935 were 535 in the arts department and 517 in the science department, and how two years later they were 1,441 in the arts department and 2,691 in the science department." The eminent professor then contacted Al-Ahram and informed it that the proposal had been adopted on the basis that prospective students should not be denied the university education they hope for. "The university has adopted this philosophy and in recent years has done all it can to accept the largest number of students possible. It was even compelled to form large divisions in which the number of students exceeded 400 in some colleges." Ahmed Lutfi El-Sayed's opinion in the meeting was that this immense number of students within one division might preclude the goals of studying at the university as the foundation of such study rested upon a close relationship between teachers and students. Some colleges had exhausted their means and grown incapable of accepting prospective students. "It appears that this state will be aggravated in the coming years to the point that the university will be unable to deal with it even using all of its natural and exceptional means." As for the selection of Alexandria as the location for the new university, this was due to its being the second capital, "the lighthouse of knowledge and the cradle of cognisance in a luminous age of history", meaning the Greco- Roman period. Yet one of Al-Ahram 's readers disagreed with the eminent professor's opinion. He was Ali Gamaleddin Hassanein, who had earned a Bachelor's degree in architecture from Liverpool University. Hassanein suggested establishing the new university in Assuit rather than Alexandria as that would only increase the imbalance between Upper and Lower Egypt. "Students in the southern directorates are forced to travel hundreds of miles to enroll in Cairo University or Alexandria University, which is planned to be established, and live in one of the two cities. There is no doubt that this burden demands costs under which most students struggle. There is no solution to this other than establishing a central university in the middle of Upper Egypt." He chose Assuit as a location for the proposed university for it is the largest and oldest of Upper Egypt's cities. It is situated halfway between the northern and southern borders of Egypt and it housed the most important royal high school in Upper Egypt as well as the American College, the Weisa Brothers School and others under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. Although this reader's opinion was not destined to win over that of the Egyptian University's director, whose view was supported by the approval of its board, it remained under consideration and Assuit University became the third Egyptian university directly after that established in Alexandria. A LITTLE MORE THAN SEVEN MONTHS passed following the suggestion of founding Alexandria University and not a peep was heard about it. The idea did not resurface until May of the following year (1938) upon preparations for the new academic year as the Egyptian University board studied the issue of new applications. It reached the opinion of establishing a first year for the colleges of arts and law as well as the core of a College of Medicine to be located in Alexandria. This time Al-Ahram did not receive the proposal with much enthusiasm, the reason being that in its opinion, the university would not be received as well as it would have been had it been established the previous year. The number of matriculation students who completed their baccalaureate were approximately 1,000 less than the year before "which is a number of value and consideration". Moreover, the military academies that had been expanded following the signing of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty were in need of large numbers of new students "and they will be supplied from among those who have completed their matriculation year". Yet this lukewarm response did not prevent Al-Ahram 's readers from submitting their remarks on the proposal after it was revived. One reader wrote to comment on the initial approval of the council of representatives for the establishment of a College of Agriculture in Daqahliya governorate. His opinion was that this proposed college should be annexed to Alexandria University for the city was not only a seaport "but rather its neighbouring areas of fine agricultural land and the Ministry of Agriculture make it possible to found a model farm near it". He even suggested that the Antoniaidis Gardens be the location for the new college and added that among Alexandria's other advantages was that it had had success with agricultural industries such as dairy products, silk and beekeeping, which would help with "specialised studies" as this Alexandrian reader put it. A reader from Mansoura, Fadl El-Shabouri, responded, cheering for his city to be the college's headquarters. Mansoura, he argued, is the centre of an important agricultural area and enjoys all the characteristics necessary for establishing such a college, such as near equal proximity to all the directorates of the Delta, the pumping stations in Surur and Belqas, and "important agricultural installations belonging to the government and individuals". But let us return to Cairo where Al-Ahram revealed in its 28 May 1938 issue that there was dispute over the very idea of establishing a new university. While Lutfi El-Sayed and the Egyptian University's board were enthusiastic about it, another group led by Abdel-Hamid Badawi Pasha, head of the government affairs committee, opposed it. Following lengthy discussions an agreement was reached whereby the project would be limited to the colleges of medicine, arts and agriculture. When this decision was transferred to the board of the College of Law, it approved the establishment of a branch of the college of medicine in Alexandria that would begin accepting final year students and two others subsidiary to the colleges of law and arts for those wishing to enroll in the first year. Fearful that the project would be left on the shelf as it had the previous year, Ahmed El-Sawi Mohamed stressed the size of Alexandria (a population of 750,000) and the fact that its major institutes, such as Victoria College, Saint Mark School, and the Lycée and Italian schools were all the products of foreigners. Ahmed El-Sawi, the author of Al-Ahram 's "Short and Sweet" column, responded to those who viewed the new university as an extravagance by mentioning that the proportion of universities in France is one per three million citizens. "By this proportion there should be five universities in our country. Besides, the presence of a university in Alexandria will create a cultured air for university milieu and life will awaken Alexandria from its deep slumber." Perhaps this is what motivated reader Mohamed Awad Gabril to write a long article titled "Alexandria -- might it become a centre for scientific advancement?" that Al-Ahram published on the front page of its 12 July 1938 edition. In it the writer reproached the Ministry of Education for its stinginess with the second capital for it only had one high school in Ras Al-Tin and Al-Abassiya High School established 30 years earlier while the ministry had done nothing else since that time. After discussing the foreign schools and praising them for accepting Egyptian students, the sender went on to say that the city nevertheless remained, in his opinion, lacking sufficient culture. This was realised by its writers and poets who established salons in which youth learned about the arts and literature. Gabril ended his article by commending the men of the university and the Ministry of Education because they "are today founding a university branch in Alexandria and thus are meeting the good faith of history and fulfilling the obligation of knowledge. I hope that this step will be followed by others and that this branch may burst into leaf and grow into a tall tree with many branches extending shade. At such time Alexandria University may become an admirable alternative to Alexandria Library that time has forgotten and whose traces have been erased." Gabril apparently had not dreamt that in addition to his wish for the establishment of Alexandria University, the library would also later be established next to it, thus becoming more than the mere alternative he had suggested. There is no doubt that this widespread interest in the new university caused the government to take the issue seriously this time. This was made apparent in the reports sent in one after another by Al-Ahram 's correspondent in Alexandria about the position of residents of the seaport or measures the government had begun to take. In one of these reports the correspondent wrote of the intention to open classes in the new university in the colleges of medicine and arts upon the commencement of the new academic year. When it was decided that the College of Medicine branch would be located in the royal hospital, those locals interested in the matter expressed their wish for the Ministry of Education to select a plot from the expansive municipality land in Al-Hadara between Al-Shatbi and the road to Abu Qir, between the city and Al-Raml. There were many prominent European schools in that area, whose educational district had begun to resemble the Latin Quarter in Paris. They voiced their hope that the Ministry of Education would not do as it had in the past of establishing schools in regular buildings rented for that purpose. During this preparatory phase some began to explore the possibilities offered by the city for opening a new university. For example, Suleiman Azmi Pasha, professor of internal medicine in the College of Medicine visited the Royal Alexandria Hospital to study the possibility of it serving as the location of the college's branch in Alexandria. The issue of selecting a location for the university preoccupied all concerned parties during this stage, particularly as it was intended to commence studies with the new 1938-1939 academic year. During this period came news of the offer of a spacious home in Rushdi Pasha Station in Al-Ramal to the Ministry of Education, and then other news that a decision had been made to select the Matossian home in Zizinia Station as the headquarters of the College of Law and the Karam home in Rushdi Pasha Station to be the base for the College of Arts. "The two homes were inspected by some of the senior officials of the university in preparation to appraise their annual rent." Yet this decision did not stop others from entering the discussion around the selection of a location for the new university. Among them was one who Al-Ahram described as a well known doctor in Alexandria and who differed with what those before him had agreed on in terms of selecting municipality land near Al-Hadara. He opposed this on the basis that the remaining plot neither faced the Abu Qir road nor another main street and that reaching it would not be easy for students residing in the city. Moreover, the university in this case would be in the midst of foreign colleges, a setup he found inappropriate. Abdel-Hamid El-Abadi, professor of history, also entered the debate in support of the prominent doctor's opinion. He suggested that the site of the new university be the British army barracks at Mustafa Pasha Station for the location "is more beautiful and inspiring than any other in Alexandria. It is elevated and looks onto the sea. It's open and spacious and its area is estimated at scores of feddans. A university city can be built upon it." Professor El-Abadi then responded to the argument that the British military barracks were on the location by stating that the treaty signed with the British stipulated their evacuation of the area in the near future and that it was "within the reach of the Egyptian government to shorten this period by working seriously to construct the barracks provided for in the treaty". A long article written by one of Al-Ahram 's editors, Tawfiq Tannous, in the 27 July issue under the headline "The new university in Alexandria" provided new information about the number of students to be accepted in the first year: 60 students in the College of Medicine, 500 in the College of Law, and 200 in the College of Arts. "The medicine branch will begin with the fifth year in which students are most in need of practical experience. Starting with the first years of medicine requires the construction of labs fitted with the latest equipment, which would consume a great deal of time. As for the College of Arts, its study will commence with the first year as it later branches into numerous departments. The College of Law will begin with the first two years." Tannous ended by stating that these branches would become colleges once their teaching staff was completed and that once they were formed "Alexandria would have a university completely independent from Cairo University, although this would certainly not take place until colleges of science, engineering and agriculture were completed and their buildings and labs were constructed and their equipment provided." Subsequent news confirmed his conclusions when a meeting of the government affairs department on 13 December 1938 approved the text of the draft decree of the new university, including its provisions for its independence from Fouad I University in Cairo and its being named Farouq I University. WORDS WERE TURNED INTO ACTION in September 1938 when Alexandria municipality decided to concede to Fouad I University all that was left of its land for construction in Al-Hadara. This took place on the basis of a request by the university backed by the Ministry of Education. "The area of this land covers nearly 40 feddan and is worth approximately LE250,000. It is understood that the municipality will request from the government compensation equal to this value, and yet its council did not stipulate that and it was decided to ask the government to give the municipality some of the royal property in Alexandria in exchange." Al-Ahram commented on the request in another issue when it presented another side to the history of the land. All the land between the seashore and the Abu Qir road belonging to the government had been conceded to the municipality in 1900 free of cost for the construction of the eastern quay. The reason for this was that this land had solid elevations and the municipality needed a great deal of soil to fill up what would be added to the sea's ground level for the wharf. It subsequently transported soil from these heights. When they were levelled, the municipality requested from the Ministry of Finance that the land be conceded to it; the Minister of Finance Mazloum Pasha agreed to that. The land given to the university was but a small section of that expansive area. Al-Ahram added that the municipality argued that the government's relinquishing its land in Al-Shatbi and Al-Hadara to the municipality in the past did not later give it the right to take possession of the land in Al-Hadara in return for nothing, and that the municipality was not requesting its monetary value but rather land in return. Yet Al-Ahram pointed out that the expansive area on which the British Girls College had been built had been offered free of price, just as a spacious area had been given to the Italian College for a very low price, not even a quarter of it real value. Al-Ahram requested that the Alexandria municipality relinquish the land to the government at the low price of 20 piastres per cubit as had been done previously with foreign schools "because the purpose is to establish Alexandria University, which is a project that not only ensures that families currently obliged to send their children to Cairo will stay put but which will also draw families from the northern Delta because they will view their residency in Alexandria as more beneficial than residing in Cairo". As the construction of the new university's colleges on the land selected took a long time and preparations were under way for studies to begin in the three branches of the colleges of medicine, law and arts, the royal hospital was chosen for the first and the Storos home in Bolkeli near Stanley was also rented for it. The Zarfodaki home, which had been used by the English Girls College in Al-Ramal, was rented for the College of Law. As for the College of Arts, it was set up in the Karam home. These measures were followed by the mother university, Fouad I, putting together a teaching staff in the College of Law by commissioning a group of teachers to give some lectures at the new branch. Another group was formed of legists and specialists in Islamic law through appointment and deputation. The instructors nominated for teaching first year were: Hassan Baghdadi, introduction to legal sciences; Abdel-Moneim Badr, history of law; Saadeddin Sherif, Roman law; Sheikh Ali El-Khafif, Islamic law; El-Sayed Sabri, constitutional law; Abdel-Hakim Rifa'i, political economics; Omar Mamdouh, private law; and Hamed Sultan, general law. For the second year the lineup was: El-Sayed Sabri, administrative law; Mahmoud Sami Ganina, general international law; Wadi' Farag, civil law; Bahgat Badawi, contracts; Abdel-Hakim El-Rifa'i, political economics; Professor Gordon, penal law; Mahmoud Mustafa, penal law; and Mamdouh Mustafa, civil law. As for the College of Arts, it was decided to distribute students among the following departments: Arabic, English, French, history, geography and philosophy. The teachers assigned to this college were Ahmed El-Shayib, Arabic; Fouad Shukri, history; Youssef Karam, philosophy; Mr Cross, English; and Mssr Maril, French. When the board of Fouad I University decided to delay the second round exams for two weeks it was decided at the same time to delay the commencement of studies for the same period. This was also applied to the new branch, which was now scheduled to commence studies in the second half of October. Yet the approximations on which officials had based all their actions did not turn out as they had desired. It so happened that year that pressure on the university lightened significantly because the results of the matriculation exam, particularly in the arts branch, were not as expected. This was discovered firstly through the limited application to the mother university as well as the newborn university. Al-Ahram wrote that its administration no longer expected the numbers that had been estimated. Despite this, Alexandria University began to function and set up its administration in the old Zarfodaki home. It requested from the royal hospital administration the commission of two doctors, one in the department of internal medicine and the other in the department of ophthalmology to examine the students applying to the two new colleges. While Al-Ahram reported that studies had begun in the branch, it also reported, as had been predicted, that the number of law students did not exceed 70 although 500 had been initially expected. Half of them were in first year and the other half in second year. They included three female students. There were 27 arts students although 200 had been expected; among them were six females. I have no idea how they were distributed among the departments of the five colleges, and this may have been another factor behind the delayed birth of Alexandria University.
