The DAAD Cairo Office invited professors and multipliers of the German departments at Egyptian Universities to a special meeting.

The DAAD Cairo Office invited professors and multipliers of the German departments at Egyptian Universities to a special meeting on Monday, 14th of March 2016.

Under the impression of the increasing numbers of German Studies students in Egypt, which is a quite unique occurrence in the region, and questions of employability of these students, their whereabouts and the current challenges of teaching in higher education, it was the aim to bring together decision makers and junior scientists as well as German departments and language centers.

In a first panel Prof. Dr. Dalia Salama and Dr. Lobna Fouad presented the BA and MA programs at the Cairo University and the Helwan University. Dr. Wolfram Full, DAAD lecturer in Sudan, added a perspective from the neighbouring country. In a second panel Prof. Dr. Tarek Bary and Dr. Midhat Suleiman gave information on the special MA courses at their departments at the Ain Shams University, which are unique programs for German as a Foreign Language and Translation Studies. Students of the MA programs seem to have good chances on the job market, as they are highly qualified and are much needed. Especially well trained German teachers are rare.

In two very productive working groups the participants discussed the potential of national and regional cooperation with other departments of German Studies. Although there have been individual initiatives over the last years, e.g. the representation of the Egyptian departments of German Studies at the “Gesellschaft für interkulturelle Germanistik” and the “Internationale Vereinigung für Germanistik“, there is still a need for further cooperation. The participants agreed in a final panel, that establishing an Egyptian “Germanstikverband” would be a great opportunity to combine forces in dealing with the mentioned challenges.