Why Egypt should be an attractive destination for foreign students?
Attracting more foreign students is a part of The Egyptian Strategy to make Egypt an attractive destination for the award of academic degrees, and to open up important avenues for investments in the field of higher education in the framework of the Egyptian recent economic and structural reform policies.
The comprehensive strategy pushed the government toward reforming the educational process and collaborating with some overseas entities to achieve the main goal, which is driving an influx of international degree-seekers from all over the world.
Is it affordable for foreign students to study in Egypt?
Compared to other countries around the world – particularly Europe, North America, and some other Arab countries – Egypt is considered one of the most affordable and prestigious educational destinations for foreign students.
Therefore, if you are dreaming of studying abroad and you decided on Egypt, you have the chance to choose between governmental universities with low or moderate fees and their counterparts from private universities, where tuition is a more significant sum, but still affordable for all international degree seekers no matter field of study is.
Tuition Fees at Egyptian Universities
The graduate tuition rate in Egyptian universities is based on the category of graduate programs per semester. Actually, Tuition fees vary significantly from one university to another. However, they are lower than those in North America and Australia for example.
Generally, for the 2022-2023 academic year, the average price of tuition and fees in private and governmental universities starts from 60.000 to 200.000 LE for Egyptian students.
But for international students, fees are paid in US Dollars, euros, or sterling pounds. Moreover, some universities adopt Credit Hour Programs, and the fees often are paid in (2) or (3) installments and might be increased annually.
How can Egyptian universities be the best choice for foreign students?
Working on the goal of raising revenues from the hard currency in accordance with the plan announced by The Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, and the strategy endorsed by The Supreme Council of Universities in April 2017. Some Egyptian universities took unique actions to attract more degree seekers from all over the world.
The official plan mainly focused on posting instructions for Egyptian cultural offices abroad to join all international educational fairs, especially those held in Gulf region countries to promote educational opportunities in Egypt and outline the main features of the Egyptian universities to increase the total number of foreign students in Egypt to 200k for 2020-21.
Such procedures help foreign students to be acquainted with the criteria of Egyptian higher education so that they can make up their minds easily and choose Egypt as the best educational destination on both levels of studying and accommodation.
Egypt’s position among competitors
In 2016, Egypt was the third-largest destination for international degree-seeking students within the MENA region after both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the World Education Service (WES). In 2019, Egypt has become an increasingly leading international education hub in the MENA region According to WENR data.
Recently, the Cultural Affairs and Missions Sector at the Ministry of Higher Education confirmed that there is a significant leap in the number of international students, during the academic year 2021/2022. As the number of international students, applying for the first university year reached 25,701 students.
Moreover, the number of international students applying for postgraduate studies increased to reach 10,138 students. This reflects the noticeable attraction of Egypt as an educational destination for foreign students.
How can attracting foreign students be mutually beneficial?
Interestingly, as foreigners study in Egypt at a record rate, the government, universities, and local investment promotion bodies are recognizing the benefits of hosting overseas students.
And as a result of attracting those students from abroad, mentioned sectors benefit both from the higher fees they charge- as each international student will generate more revenue than his/her Egyptian counterpart- furthermore benefit from greater academic standing thanks to the talent they hunt from abroad.
The bottom line is with such a situation, Egyptian universities can get the most out of revenues to be self-funding, and needless to say that attracting good students from other countries, Egyptian academic reputation will also strengthen in the region and beyond.
References
1– A learning curve: how foreign students can provide an FDI boost
2– How Egypt is positioning itself as an educational hub for international students
3- Egyptian Universities See Boom in Foreign Students
