“Egypt's glory will return some day not far away,” said Dr. Amer Mahdi, president of the Association of Egyptian scientists the United States and Canada, concluding the 35th annual conference of the association that includes more than 400 Egyptian university professors in North America. The Conference this year was titled ‘Cooperation between scientists in order to improve higher education in Egypt'. It attracted the attention of Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif, who met with a delegation from the association on Sunday for the association to contribute with projects linked to the national plan. Association Vice-President Dr. Mohamed Atallah told Al-Masry Al-Youm that it was Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr. Hani Helal who arranged the meeting, and pointed out that Dr. Nazif asked the association to work in renewable energy, such as solar and wind, and to focus on water issues and information technology. Atallah said that the Egyptian government has become more active and is communicating with the Egyptian scientists abroad, hoping for more of such collaboration. He said the conference recommended the improvement of the faculties of engineering, medicine and commerce, considering reducing the engineering education to four years instead of five, and linking technical education to engineering. He also said that the minister asked the association to be involved in the committees promoting faculty staff so as to ensure that research be on an international level.
The conference honored Dr. Hani el-Nazer, chairman of the National Center for Research, and chose him as Scientist of the Year. Dr. Nazer said the center is ready to cooperate with anyone making a research project that serves Egypt, pointing out that the center will provide the venue, the assistants and the financing that would come from its budget and not from that of the state.
