U.S. STE Partnerships with the Middle East and North Africa

Many university partnerships have resulted from the US-Middle East University Partnership program, a program involving the cooperation between the US Department of State, US Agency for International Development, and the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development. There are other partnerships between US universities or industries formed outside this program. Listed below are the programs that have a direct S&T focus. The programs encourage both men and women to apply. No programs excluded female participants; however, there were no programs with a specific female focus.

• University of Connecticut has a partnership with Ain Shams University in Egypt. This program offers a master’s degree in information and communication technology and entrepreneurship. This program blends business and management skills and the use of computers and IT in business.
  http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/30340.htm



• Virginia Polytechnic Institute has partnership with State University/Arab Academy of Science and Technology. The goal of this program is to establish a resident degree program in information and communication technology, and hopes to fill the need to IT faculty in Egypt. This partnership will also develop a sabbatical program for Egyptian ICT faculty to attend classes at Virginia Polytechnic Institute to focus on instruction, research, and advising.
  http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/30340.htm



• Montana State University has a partnership with Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. This partnership offers a PhD degree in computer science in order to fill the need of ICT professionals in Morocco. This program brings professors from Montana State to AUF so the students can work closely with experienced professors. PhD students will also have the opportunity to study at Montana State and conduct research for their theses.
  http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/30340.htm



• Duke University has a partnership with Effat College in Saudi Arabia. This program offers a bachelor’s of science degree in computer engineering. The program is designed to integrate hands-on experience into the curriculum.
  http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/30340.htm



• Southern Methodist University has a partnership with University of Tunis El Manar. This program provides opportunities to faculty with training and expertise needed to supervise PhD graduates who may potentially serve as faculty members in the future, mentor and train other faculty members, conduct research in ICT, or develop entrepreneurial skills in order to form professional relationships between industry and university.
  http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/30340.htm



• University of Maryland Eastern Shore has a partnership with Palestine Polytechnic University. This program aims at teaching applied information technology to the science faculty involved with managing and improving water resources. This program provides opportunities for scientists to travel to University of Maryland Eastern Shore to learn about GIS technology and water quality and visited water treatment facilities. Textbooks and laboratory materials were also provided by the University of Maryland Eastern Shores.
  http://www.aascu.org/alo/working/ANE.htm



• The New York Institute of Technology has set up programs throughout the Middle East through institutional affiliations in Bahrain, Jordan, and UAE. Qualified students can earn either a bachelor’s or master’s degree from NYIT in fields such as business, computer science, information systems, and communication arts.
  http://www.nyit.edu/academics/offsite/offsite_middle.html



• US-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund provides grants funded by the Department of State to promote collaborations between US and Egyptian scientists. The scientists partner up to develop a joint proposal. It is ideal for the two scientists to be familiar with each other and their respective work. The purpose of this grant is to further develop relations with Egypt and provide resources and experiences that are not normally accessible to scientists in this country.
  http://cairo.usembassy.gov/usegypt/grants.htm



• The Weill Cornell Medical School in Qatar is part of Cornell University and is the first American medical school to be established overseas. The school was set up through partnerships between Cornell University and the Qatar foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development. Students at the Weill Cornell Medical School are taught by Cornell faculty and graduate with a M.D. from Cornell University. The curriculum and requirements are identical to its American counterpart.
  http://www.qatar-med.cornell.edu/aboutUs/purpose.html?name1=Purpose+and+Mission&type1=2Activ



• The American University College of Science and Technology, located in Beirut, Lebanon, is affiliated with Villanova University and Empire State College. This university offers an American-style educational program focusing on studies in science and technology. This university hopes to expose students to new cultural and educational experiences. It also wants to serve as a model for the pursuit of excellence and high technology use for the rest of the region.
  http://89.108.145.12/MissionStatement.html



• Notre Dame University has set up satellite campuses in both North Lebanon and Shouf, a city 35 kilometers outside of Beirut. The schools offer a range of degrees. Science and technology degrees, such as engineering and natural or applied sciences are offered at both campuses.
  http://www.ndu.edu.lb/



• Honolulu University is a representative of American Academy of Technology in Lebanon. This offers a variety of program degrees, including business administration, engineering, computer science and information technology, and education.
  http://www.aat.edu.lb



• Texas A&M University has opened a satellite campus in Education City, a consortium of educational and research institutes, in Qatar. It offers undergraduate programs in electrical, mechanical, chemical, and petroleum engineering. In 2007, Texas A&M is hoping to establish a graduate program as well.
  http://www.qatar.tamu.edu/



• Carnegie Mellon University has established a campus in Qatar. The degrees offered on this campus are business administration and computer science.
  http://www.qatar.cmu.edu/about/index.php?pg=mission



• Sprint Technologies Pvt. Ltd. has made its presence in the UAE by setting up training centers in the free trade zone of Ras Al Khaimah. The centers focus on training, software development, and staff augmentation. Sprint is also reaching out to university students at Itihaad University at Ras Al Khaimah to educate students in the latest software and technology.
  http://www.sprinttech.com/content.php?menu=103&menu_posi=4



• The Yemen University of Science and Technology has become Yemen’s first private university to sign agreements with Microsoft. This agreement licenses all of the university’s software and enables university access to certain Microsoft programs. The agreement also allows Microsoft technologies to be incorporated into the IT curriculum. The agreement not only reduces the cost of acquiring, maintaining, and updating the Microsoft technology, it also enhances the educational experience of the students.
  http://www.ameinfo.com/43533.html



• Microsoft also strongly recruits university students from overseas to work for their American offices. Microsoft looks for passionate college graduates with a computer science degree to relocate to Redmond, Washington and help build software products that are used worldwide. There are recruiters for Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon.
  http://www.microsoft.com/college/overseas.mspx



• DuPont formed a partnership with Marmara University of Istanbul. The corporation will provide the university with state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment. This will provide opportunities for students to gain valuable laboratory experience and scientific problem solving skills. This will raise the educational standards for the students, and give them more career options.
  http://www2.dupont.com/Packaging_Graphics/en_US/news_events/article20060511.html



Additional international STE partnerships in the Middle East and North Africa

• The University of New Brunswick in Canada has established a satellite campus in Dubai’s Knowledge Village. The only degree offered at this campus is a Bachelor’s in Information Sciences, specializing in either decision and business management or decision and system sciences. The faculty is made up of both local and visiting professors. The program’s open policies make it easy for students to transfer from Dubai into the University of New Brunswick.
  http://www.unbdubai.com/programs.php?nav_head=news&sub_nav=pressreleases



• The Canadian Nexen Scholarship Program sponsored by Canadian Nexen Petroleum Company offers competitive scholarships to Yemeni students for an opportunity to study at either the South Alberta Institute of Technology or University of Calgary in Canada. Students have the option of majoring in applied technology fields; numerous engineering fields are available, along with mathematics, or geophysics.
  http://www.nexeninc.com/files/Sustainability/Announcement_English.pdf



• The Medical University of Bahrain is a constituent university of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. One of the goals of the MUB, besides providing education in health care, is to establish Bahrain as an international center for education and training. The MUB provides a competitive program for the medical students enrolled setting the highest international standards. MUB accepts students from all over the world, including, India, Italy, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, US, and Yemen.
  http://www.rcsi-mub.com/default.asp?action=article&ID=178#



• The German University of Cairo is the result of multiple collaborations between different German and Egyptian organizations. The German University of Cairo (GUC) is a cooperation between the State University of Ulm and Stuttgart of Germany, and it is under the patronage of the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, Ministries of Science, Research, and Art, State of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, and supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Embassy in Cairo, the Arab/German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany. The university only offers studies in the science, engineering, or math fields for bachelor’s degrees. It offers a MBA degree as well.
  http://www.guc.edu.eg/



• The Royal University for Women in West Riffa, Bahrain has recently expanded its campus facilities, including a new library, student union, and gymnasium. The expansion will make the quality university education available to more women locally and internationally. The Royal University for Women is currently consulting with Middlesex University in the UKto set up facilities for a Design and Computer Science program. There is also a partnership with the Faculties of Management and Education of McGill University in Canada.
  http://www.ruw.edu.bh/ruwmain.asp



• University of Wollongong, of Australia, established a campus in Dubai’s Knowledge Village. Undergraduate degrees include computer science and internet science and technology. Both students and faculty are both local and international.
  http://www.uowdubai.ac.ae/aboutus/details.php?sec=1,2