When the Elliott School of International Affairs announced last September that it was launching an exchange program with American University in Cairo (AUC), it was the latest installment in a larger university-to-university relationship.
GW has been sending students to AUC for many years, according to Rob Hallworth, director of study abroad. Since the 2005-06 academic year, 111 GW students have studied in Cairo. Of those students, more than a dozen spent an entire academic year at AUC and the rest spent a semester, he says.
The School of Engineering and Applied Science also created a special agreement with AUC this year, according to Anthony Pandolfo, international operations coordinator in GW’s Office of International Programs.
In an “inbound Ph.D. program,” undergraduates at AUC can apply during their senior year for doctorates at GW through the School of Engineering and Applied Science, according to Mr. Pandolfo.
The two GW schools’ agreements with AUC are part of a larger memorandum of understanding governing exchange programs and study abroad between the universities, Mr. Pandolfo said. “It’s all one big package.”
“The new program joins our existing exchange with the American University in Beirut to provide premier study abroad options in the Middle East,” says Caroline Donovan White, director of international programs and education at the Elliott School.
Ms. Donovan White says the most exciting part about the program was the prospect of GW hosting Egyptian and Middle Eastern students, and she is already working with colleagues in Cairo to recruit AUC students to come to Foggy Bottom for the fall 2011 semester.
“Many of our graduate students have a strong interest in the Middle East but can’t fit study abroad into their academic and professional lives,” she says. “The new exchange will add more regionally experienced voices to our Foggy Bottom classroom discussions for the benefit of all our students.”
“This partnership will cultivate academic and social relationships between future professionals from Egypt and the United States,” says Amb. Edward W. “Skip” Gnehm Jr., B.A. ’66, M.A. ’68, at an event earlier this fall announcing the partnership.
“GW students already benefit from opportunities for study in Cairo, but now GW will host Egyptian and Middle East exchange students in courses at our Foggy Bottom Campus,” says Amb. Gnehm, Kuwait professor of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula affairs and former U.S. ambassador to Australia, Jordan and Kuwait. “The entire GW community will benefit from this expanded relationship.”