Russia and Egypt are considering introducing hard science programs at Egyptian high schools to support the tech side of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant, Egypt's Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Mohamed Ayman Ashour told Sputnik on the sidelines of the forum in Kazan.
“We discussed the new programs in the new technological universities – how to connect between technological universities – here in Russia and Egypt. We also started a negotiation concerning the new technology in universities to serve the technology part of El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant in the north part of Egypt," he explained.
The minister stressed that the Moscow-Cairo cooperation in education is increasingly deepening with Russian subsidiaries of high schools being established in the African country.
“Also, we discussed together how to increase the number of universities by establishing a new consortium in the new city of Borg El Arab, in the north of Egypt, also to boost other universities from Russia, in order to give good new [educational] programs in Egypt,” he said.
Russia-Egypt scientific and educational partnerships span back decades when the revolutionary leader of independent Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser ousted the pro-Western king and asked Moscow for comprehensive support. Apart from military backing, the Soviet Union helped to establish Egyptian science and education from scratch.