(quoted from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research page).

The Supreme Council of Universities held its periodic meeting, chaired by Dr. Ayman Ashour, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, on Saturday, in the presence of Dr. Mustafa Refat, Secretary of the Council, and members of the Council at Alexandria University.

At the outset of the meeting, the Council observed a minute of mourning for the lives of Palestine's martyrs and prayed to Allah to bless them with his mercy.

The Council thanked the Alexandria University community under the chairmanship of Dr. Abdulaziz Kansoswa, President of Alexandria University, for hosting the meeting of the Supreme Council of Universities.

The Council congratulated Dr. Abdel Razek Desouki for renewing his appointment as President of Kafr Al-Sheikh University, Dr. Abdulaziz Tantawi for renewing his appointment as President of the New Valley University, Dr. Maher Musbah for his appointment as Secretary of the Council of Private Universities, and Dr. Sharif Saleh for his assignment to carry out the work of the Head of Cultural Affairs and Missions Sector, wishing them lasting success.

The Minister stressed the readiness of all university hospitals; Pursuant to the directives of the Egyptian President to follow up on the preparations of the health system to deal with any medical emergencies of the consequences of events in the Gaza Strip and to upgrade the readiness of all hospitals in the governorates concerned.

The Minister directed to maximize the use of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank to maximize its unique and enormous possibilities for learning and training and to make available various kinds of science and knowledge.

The Minister also directed the intensification of the organization of field visits to major national projects implemented by the State in various sectors; To familiarize students with the size of projects and achievements carried out throughout the Republic.

The Minister praised the progress of Egyptian universities in the prestigious international rankings, noting the inclusion of 28 Egyptian universities in the British Thames ranking for 2024, which includes 1904 universities from 108 countries around the world, as well as the inclusion of 36 Egyptian universities in the English QS rankings for the Arab States for 2024.

The Council listened to a report on the most prominent activities of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in October, including the launch of the "ISESCO Year of Youth" at a major international celebration in the administrative capital, in the presence of Dr. Mustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister on behalf of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the Egyptian President. Through which the council honored a group of creative, talented, and innovative youth in the Islamic world, announced the establishment of a fund to support talented and innovators in the Islamic world, and announced the initiative of the Egyptian President to allocate 100 scholarships at Egyptian universities to students of the Islamic world, as well as to strengthen the distinctive partnership between Egypt and the Organization in areas of mutual interest.

The report noted the success of the British Educational and Promotional Mission's visit to Egypt, which resulted in the signing of several memorandums of understanding between a number of Egyptian and British universities and institutions; To start joint degrees between Egyptian and British universities, in addition to signing memorandums of agreement to establish branches of British universities in Egypt, as well as conducting numerous field visits to Egyptian universities, and opening areas of investment in education to British universities and companies.

The Minister commended the unanimous adoption by the UNESCO Executive Board of the draft resolution "Egyptian Knowledge Bank Initiative", which was one of the priorities of the Ministry's work.

The Minister praised the winning of the Egypt House Project in Paris International University City with the French Architects' Association Award in France, which reflects a distinct model of architectural design that combines authenticity and contemporary Egyptian civilization.

He also commended the efforts of the Judicial Police Committees, which had resulted in the closure of many shell entities throughout the Republic. He noted the important role played by the Media Monitoring Committee of shell entities, which monitored the entities' propaganda and marketing activities on social media sites and provided weekly reports for action against such shell entities.

Dr. Mustafa Refat, Secretary of the Higher Council of Universities, gave a detailed presentation on the new electronic system created to facilitate the entry of basic data of the regulations of the interactive programs to be reviewed by the sector committees. Hence, Data entry is conducted through the university requesting the creation of an interactive program. The data entry mechanism is based on, inter alia, the basic information on the program, the general merit of graduates, and the relationship to the labor market as well as the dependency of any professional union. Thus, start selecting the main general disciplines for its science fields, and details of the sector committees according to the program's curriculum disciplines. Therefore, an integrated report on the program’s educational ratios and content is extracted from the program. The sector committees are responsible for reviewing the curriculum, identifying the overlapping sector committees to which the program will be referred for study and permitting the commencement of the study, and determining the scientific sector committee that will review the regulation in the light of the terms of reference are identified through statistical data extracted from the system. It is important for facilitating the follow-up of the program and equalizing it in the future, noting that this system is a regulatory shift and a tool that facilitates the mechanisms of work within the sector committees and the drawing of the dividing lines for each scientific field of interdisciplinary disciplines established through the program.

It also facilitates continuous follow-up to these programs through its Sector Committee Reference Framework program ". These committees are followed by the largest number of curricula for the program to be established, within the framework of plans to develop the working methods of the sector committees of the Higher Council of Universities in conjunction with the State and Ministry's support for the establishment of interactive programs and meeting the steady needs of the labor market at the local, regional, and international levels.

The Council listened to a presentation by Dr. Hisham Al-Askry, Professor of Earth Science and Remote Sensing Systems at Chapman University of America and former Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Egyptian Space Agency on assessing the impact of climate changes on Egyptian shores and presenting the future plan to address these potential risks as well as presentation of projected future scenarios resulting from warming, the extent to which this affects coastal cities through scientific research and studies on this matter to develop practical plans to counter these natural phenomena. The Minister directed the establishment of a committee to transform the studies submitted into outputs on the ground.

Review a report on the work of the Coordination Office of Government Universities and Institutes, for admission to the current academic year 2023/2024.

The Council thanked all those in charge of the Coordination Office headed by Mr. Sayed Atta, the High Committee for Coordination, the General Directorate of the Information Office, and the Ministry's spokesperson for their fruitful efforts in successfully completing coordination of government universities and institutes this year.

The spokesperson added that the Council had discussed a draft resolution on the legislative amendments required to change the name of university sports education faculties to sports science faculties, in preparation for the completion of the other necessary measures in this regard.

The Council approved the Regulation of Technical Nursing Institutes of the General Health Care Authority.

The Council approved the circulation of the guideline for the controls of the use of artificial intelligence applications in higher education in various Egyptian higher education institutions.

The Council was informed of the Ministry of Youth and Sport's intention to carry out the "Festival of Creativity" for the twelfth season, from October to April 2024.

The Council was also briefed on the establishment of the World Education Technology Forum (EdTech) from 24 to 26 January 2024 in London, in which about 25 countries participate to provide studies and presentations of products, technologies, models, and solutions related to education technology.