The meeting of the Supreme Council of Universities was chaired by Prof. Dr. Mohammed Ayman Ashour, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research at the New Valley University. Prof. Dr. Ashraf Hnijal, SU President participated in the meeting in the attendance of Prof. Dr. Mustafa Refat, Secretary of the Supreme Council of Universities, Trustees of Private Universities Councils, and Vices of the Minister.

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

Minister of Higher Education directs:

- Continuous follow-up to the "Alliance and Development" initiative in all regional alliances

- Rapid completion of logistics and educational services for disabled students by universities

- Universities continue to launch medical, veterinary, and agricultural convoys, educational seminars, events, and various activities

Minister of Higher Education commends:

- Inclusion of 79 Egyptian educational institutions in the "public" Webometric classification and inclusion of 50 universities in reference citations

- The Council reviews the results of field studies on groundwater and soil viability of the New Valley University Land Project

During the meeting, the Council thanked the New Valley University Community under the chairmanship of Dr. Abdulaziz Tantawi, President of the University, for hosting the meeting of the Supreme Council of Universities.

The Minister of Higher Education announced that next March will witness the signing of the Seventh Regional Alliance, which includes the Greater Cairo universities within the framework of the presidential initiative "Alliance and Development", as well as the formation of the Executive Council, which will follow up the implementation of the Regional Alliances Plan to support scientific research of the industry and the national economy and address the challenges facing the various geographical regions of the Republic.

The Minister directed the speedy completion of the universities' implementation of all logistical needs and educational services for disabled students, with the need to intensify the efforts of universities to empower disabled students, increase student activities to develop and refine the skills and abilities of these students, organize events and activities that contribute to integrate disabled students among their colleagues, provide awareness-raising and educational seminars on their rights, as well as increase the services provided to these students in various university educational institutions and provide them with all facilitation, within the framework of the State's efforts; to integrate them into society.

The Minister also directed universities to continue implementing medical, veterinary, and agricultural convoys, organizing educational seminars, various events, and activities, and making a positive contribution to capacity-building in the health, environmental, veterinary, and social fields, in cooperation with the presidential initiative "Hayat Karima"; To give effect to the role of universities in the service of society and the development of the environment at the level of all governorates.

The Minister of Higher Education stressed the importance of continuing the university's efforts during the second semester in implementing the operational plans for cultural, artistic, and sporting activities for its effective role in developing students' skills in all fields, developing students' understanding of the contemporary challenges facing the country, as well as paying attention to holding cultural seminars and workshops aimed at developing national awareness among students and combating unsound concepts and ideas.

The Minister commended the inclusion of 50 Egyptian universities in the Webometric Reference Citations Classification for 2024, which relies on universities' websites and the internationally published rate of scientific research citations, drawing on Google Scholar cites global research and praised the inclusion of 79 Egyptian educational institutions in the January 2024 version of the Webometric "General" classification, which includes 32 thousand educational institutions from around the world.

The Minister pointed out that universities should continue to support researchers to increase scientific publishing in prestigious scientific journals; To upgrade the rankings of Egyptian universities in the world's largest rankings.

The Minister commended the positive participation of universities in the Cairo International Book Fair, which witnessed significant participation from universities where student visits were organized for various exhibition suites, as well as participation in lectures, workshops, and awareness seminars on the state's efforts in national projects, and discussion on various issues that deepen students' awareness of the issues and challenges facing their society.

The Council listened to a report on the most prominent activities of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in February. The presentation included the Minister's visit to the University of Damanhur to inspect the new projects of the University costing one and a half billion pounds. (Faculties of Dentistry, Nursing, as well as Central Laboratories, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital, and Faculty of Engineering), as part of the political leadership's interest in the development of public universities; To be able to fulfill its academic mission, and to expand the establishment of new faculties; To cover all disciplines and areas required for the labor market.

The Minister of Higher Education participated in the conference on the education system in Schools for Outstanding Students in Science and Technology "STEM". The Minister also witnessed the signing of a protocol between the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Ministry of Education and Technical Education; To discover and qualify innovative students in the fields of science and technology. The Minister also participated in the events of an interactive session entitled "International cooperation and its impact on building the knowledge economy", to enhance cooperation with the Dutch side, emphasize the importance of cooperation between Egyptian and Dutch universities at the level of universities, research centers, and industrial bodies as well as showing the importance of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank role in upgrading the classification of Egyptian universities in various international rankings.

The Minister witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between Cairo University's "International Branch" and East London University; To host 19 international programs between the two universities, in many scientific disciplines. The Minister also witnessed the graduation ceremony of students with a double degree in engineering and computing and information faculties at Ain Shams University. The Minister also discussed ways of strengthening cooperation with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation and discussed the development of Egyptian education in support of the knowledge index education and its impact on improving the quality of education in Egypt.

The first meeting of the fourth session of the Executive Committee of Missions, chaired by the Minister of Higher Education, was also held to follow up on the implementation of the decisions of the Executive Committee of Missions and to discuss the travel controls of scientific supervision students.

The Minister noted the success of the National Remote Sensing and Space Science Authority in receiving the first images from the NEXSAT-1 experimental satellite, which underscores Egypt's ability to possess the technical and technological capabilities of satellites and to receive data from satellites.

The Minister witnessed the events of the distribution ceremony of the Arab classification certificates for universities in 2023, praising the advanced centers obtained by Egyptian universities and their presence in 115 universities from 16 Arab countries within the classification.

The report referred to the holding of numerous meetings with ministers, ambassadors, foreign officials, and delegations of foreign universities; To explore mechanisms to promote joint scientific and research cooperation.

The Council witnessed the signing of a cooperation protocol between the universities of the Southern Province (Sohag University, South Valley University, Luxor University, Aswan University), at the level of the faculties of education of these universities. The Protocol aims to increase the competence and capacity of the teaching staff and associated staff, students, researchers, and employees. In addition to sharing experiences and visits, conducting joint research, Joint supervision of scientific theses, participating in seminars and scientific conferences and scientific visits, training programs and discussion groups, and consultation in many scientific and environmental fields.

Dr. Islam Abu Almajid, President of the National Commission for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences showed a detailed presentation on the studies carried out by the Commission on university grounds with an area of 16 thousand acres in the New Valley Governorate, to study groundwater for the development of the specialized model farm for universities. The study also reported that land is suitable for the cultivation of many crops, such as barley, sugar beets, clover, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, and dates.

In the same context, the Council heard a presentation by Dr. Ziad AL-Sayiad, Professor of the Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, and Dr. Yahya Salah, Professor of the Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, on the field study carried out on the project of establishing model scientific specialized farms in the university grounds of the New Valley to create many jobs and provide all services and facilities, as well as to generate land-inclusive agricultural development, as well as to review the appropriate crop composition according to the nature of the region's water and climate.

Dr. Adel Abdulghaffar, Media Adviser and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research stated that the Council had approved the commencement and follow-up of the Egyptian University Land Project in the New Valley governorate, as part of the effective start of land reclamation for each university in the New Valley governorate to establish model scientific specialized farms, which will benefit from the development of scientific research in Egyptian universities and contribute to the implementation of the State's plan for the development of the Southern Province.

The Ministry's spokesperson added that the Council had approved the commencement of the study at the School of Postgraduate Studies and Environmental Research at the University of Sohag.

The Council approved the commencement of the study to the degree of philosophy (Islamic law, Arabic language and literature, Islamic history and civilization, sociology, philosophy, geography), at the Institute of Islamic Studies.

The Council approved the Prime Minister's draft resolution on the establishment of the Faculty of Education at Luxor University.