Background of the visit derives from the enormous demand of Egypt for innovation on the one hand and the need of developing educational curricula that qualify students to fulfill the requirements needed the business world on the other hand.

During his visit to the Science Park Potsdam Golm the Minister spoke with researchers from the Max Planck Society and the Fraunhofer Society about methods of technology transfer and then discussed with the Brandenburg Minister of Science and President of the University of Potsdam about possible mutual cooperation opportunities. The Minister expressed Egypt’s willingness to establish a huge scientific campus in the new capital east of Cairo in which several foreign universities with their own study programmes shall be represented.

Furthermore, H.E Prof. El-Shihy has hold a meeting with DAAD President Professor Wintermantel and both sides stressed on the success of the traditional cooperation between both countries, as H.E Prof. El-Shihy mentioned that “Germany belongs to the most popular destinations for Egyptian students and scholars”. To intensify the existing technical cooperation and make it more visible and accessible, both parties agreed on deepen the bilateral thematic clusters cooperation along the lines of the existing “German-Egyptian water cluster” and consider further options for co-financed programmes.

Adequate occasion for joint internationalization was seen during the visit to the HTW Berlin, where already collaborations with the German University in Cairo in the field of design and power engineering exist, in addition to further potential factors were given also in the field of museum education or health sciences.