Nile University

Nile University
جامعة النيل Jāmiʿat al-Nil
Motto	Creating a Learning Culture
Established	2006
Type	Private
President	Tarek Khalil
Location	6th of October City, Egypt
Campus	Smart Village Campus
Website	www.nileu.edu.eg

Nile University (NU) is a not-for-profit institution of higher education. The University was established in Egypt in July 2006 by the Egyptian Foundation for Technological Education Development (EFTED).

The Egyptian Foundation for Technological Education (EFTED) is a not-for-profit organization, dedicated to improving technology-related education.

NU is a research university, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in Engineering, Technology, Management and Management of Technology (MOT). NU's emphasis in research and development (R&D) activities is in the area of Communications and Information Technology.

Corruption Allegations

As part of former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif's strategic plan to introduce research-based universities to Egypt, NU went through a controversial ordeal when a complaint was filed on February 9, 2011 to the attorney general against Nazif, accusing him of abusing his position to gift public land and buildings to NU for its new campus. One week later, the new cabinet decided to transfer control of the new campus from the university to the cabinet’s Education Development Fund (EDF). The charges include Nazif abusing his powers by illegally allocating land worth LE 2 billion to build a new campus for the university. A corruption investigation was launched to examine the relationship between NU and the former government official.

Some claim the corruption charges leveled against the university were politically motivated. Former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, who was appointed during the revolution after the removal of Nazif, made what university officials characterize as a political move against Nazif by seizing NU’s assets. However, university officials pointed out in the media that it’s impossible to return land to the government when it’s already owned by it. The plan was for NU, categorized as a non-profit university, to rent it from the ministry. Shafik’s decision to confiscate the new campus merely moved ownership from a government organization (the communications ministry) to a governmental fund.

However, the land was ordered to be returned to NU by Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court in April 2013. "It also ruled that NU should be registered as a 'civil' university," states Yasmine Wali of Ahram Online.^[1] "The court went on to stress the importance of maintaining NU – which enjoys the status of a legal state entity – and avoid changing students' legal situations.

Research Centers

Nile University's researchers are operating in 6 research centers focusing on areas of critical importance :

• Wireless Intelligent Networks Center "WINC",^[2] which serves as a research center on Wireless Communications.
• Center for Informatics Science (CIS),^[3] specialized in bioinfomatics, medical informatics and medical imaging. The Center also hosts Nubios, the first bioinformatics server in Egypt,
• Nanoelectronics Integrated Systems Center (NISC),^[4] NISC's vision is to be a major hub for the electronics industry in the region, promoting its growth and sustainability.
• Center for Nanotechnology (CNT)^[5]
• Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness Center.
• Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems.

NU is also a strategic partner of the recently established Egypt-IBM Nanotechnology Research Center.

Each research center has been equipped with the most modern infrastructure benchmarked against international research institutions worldwide. These state-of-the-art research facilities are open to national universities free of charge as was the case with the Bioinformatics portal.

Research grants are obtained from local and international granting institutions such as:

Google, Microsoft, GM, Intel, Alcatel-Lucent, STDF, ITIDA, NTRA, EU, RDI, Qatar Foundation, Mentor Graphics, Synopsys, Cadence.

All research projects are conducted with the perspective of connecting the University with:

• Young expatriate Egyptian scientists
• World-renowned international universities such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Imperial College and Ohio State University.
• Local universities such as Cairo University and Ain Shams University in addition to local and national research centers and institutions such as the National Cancer Institute, Kasr Al Ainy Hospitals, Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation, Genome Research Center and the National Traffic Authority.
• Local and international industry.

Nile University's research topics are directly related to issues of development and national priorities in the sectors of food, health, traffic and environment. Such as:

• Sensor Networks for Diagnosis and Monitoring
• Mobile Healthcare Applications
• Computer-based Imaging for Cardiac and Retinal Disease
• Bioinformatics Infrastructures and Algorithms
• Egyptian Buffalo Genome Analysis
• Personalized Medicine Systems
• Intelligent Traffic Monitoring
• Intelligent and Precision Agriculture Systems
• Data Mining and Web Mining
• Water Purification
• Solar Energy
• Cancer Diagnosis and Drug Delivery
• Electronics 4G Mobile Phone Technology and Application
• VLSI Design

Academic programs

School of Communication and Information Technology

• Bachelor of Science
  • Computer Engineering
  • Electronics & Communications Engineering

• Master of Communication & Information Technology
  • Software Engineering (MSCIT-SWE)
  • Wireless Technologies track (MSCIT-WiTech)
  • Information Security track (MSCIT-IS)
  • General track (MSCIT)

• Master of Microelectronics System Design (MSD)

Graduate School of Management of Technology

• Ph. D. in Management of Technology (PhD-MOT)
• Master of Management of Technology (MOT)

School of Business Administration

• Bachelor of Business Administration
• Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA)

School of Engineering & Applied Sciences

• Bachelor of Science
  • Industrial & Service Engineering & Management
• Master of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
• Master of Construction Engineering & Management (CEM)
• Nano Science & Technology (NST)

Nile University's Collaboration

Nile University has collaborations in the region with:

• Bell Labs^[6]
• Miami University (foreign exchange program)^[7]

Nile University is offering the first Management of Technology program in the region in cooperation with the University of Minnesota, USA, and according to the guidelines of the International Association of Management of Technology (IAMOT) at the University of Miami, USA.

NU also offers an Executive MBA program in cooperation with IESE Business School - Navarra University, Spain (see section below).

The Communication & Information Technology Program with specialization in Software Engineering is the first of its kind in Egypt and is delivered by professors from USA and Canada. This program offers a unique^{[citation needed]} model of cooperation in the development of software project sponsored by industry partners and in cooperation with the Software Engineering Competence Center (SECC), a partner of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) - Carnegie Mellon University. The Wireless Technologies program is offered in collaboration with Ohio State University.

• IESE Business School

One of the first international universities to collaborate with NU is Navarre University of Barcelona-Spain through its IESE Business School. IESE was

founded in 1958 in as the graduate business school of the University of Navarra. Its focus has been on executive education aimed at experienced business leaders.

The school launched its MBA program in 1964, under the guidance of an advisory committee set up by Harvard Business School and IESE. Partner schools have included Harvard Business School, Stanford, MIT Sloan School of Management and the University of Michigan Business School. It has become a player in offering customized programs for executives.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between MCIT and IESE for academic collaboration with NU. In light of this MOU, IESE helps in the design of the academic curricula, provide Ph.D. fellowships for faculty development, advice on the institutional development of the business school, in addition to offering executive programs.

NU has been interacting with universities to discuss possible collaboration in academic as well as in research programs. NU currently has signed collaboration agreements and memoranda of understanding with the following institutions:

• Center for the Development of Technological Leadership – University of Minnesota - USA.
• College of Engineering - University of Miami-USA.
• Northwestern University- USA
• Ohio State University - USA.
• The Henri Samueli School of Engineering – University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) - USA.
• Imperial College – London UK.
• University of Waterloo – Canada.
• Information & Communication University – South Korea.
• Seoul National University - South Korea.

Students & Scholarships

• More than 500 scholarships were offered to deserving students. 102 of these scholarships, ranging between 40 to 100% of tuition fees, were offered during the current year alone.
• Moreover, 160 fellowships were offered to research assistants in Nile University's research centers covering full tuition fees in addition to a stipend.
• More than 120 master's degree students have graduated from Nile University to this date.
• 25 of Nile University's graduating master's degree students have been awarded full scholarships for PhD studies in top North American and European universities, funded by these universities.
• A large number of Nile University's students have received international awards and short term funds to study in international universities or practice as interns in multinational companies worldwide.

NU Board of Trustees

• Dr. Abdel Aziz Hegazy - Chairman Ex-Prime Minister of Egypt

• Dr. Ibrahim Badran President of Institut d'Egypte

• Eng. Hany Mahmoud Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

• Dr. Tarek Khalil President, Nile University.

• Dr. Moataz Khorshid Former Minister, Higher Education & Scientific Research

• Dr. Fathy Hassan Saleh Professor of Computer Engineering, Cairo University and Emeritus - Director, Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT).

• Dr. Ahmed Tantawy Director of R&D, IBM Middle East and North Africa.

• Dr. Akef Al-Maghrabi Founder & Chairman, Maghrabi Eye and Ear Hospitals & Centers.

• Eng. Salah Diab CEO, PICO

• Dr. Nadia Makram Ebeid Executive Director, Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab region and Europe (CEDARE).

• Eng. Ibrahim Saleh President for Industrial Activity, Al Kharafi Group

• Eng. Alaa A. Samie Hegazy Vice Chairman, ENPPI

• Eng. Amr Alouba Chairman, Engineering Consultants Group

• Eng. Akil Beshir Ex-President, Telecom Egypt

• Dr. Gamal El Din Mohamed Ali IT Incubation Center

• Eng. Khaled Hegazy External Affairs Director, Vodafone Egypt.

• Eng. Mohsen Baligh Professor of Engineering, Cairo University.

• Dr. Alaa Adris Scientific Research, Misr El Kheir

• Mr. Ahmed A. Raouf Main Partner, Abdel Raouf Firm

^[8]

References

External links

• Nile University Home page
• Northwestern University’s collaboration with NISC
• "Egypt boosts its academic entrepreneurs" Nature website, 19 August 2004
• Nile University Home page

Coordinates: 30°04′04″N 31°01′13″E / 30.067778°N 31.020278°E / 30.067778; 31.020278 (Nile University)