The first meeting of the Advisory Committee for the Energy Center of Excellence funded by the US Agency for International Development and implemented by the University of Arizona at the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, was held in the presence of Prof. Dr. Ayman Ashour, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of Ain Shams University, and Prof. Omar El-Husseini, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Ain Shams University Ain Shams, representatives of the US Agency for International Development, representatives of Egyptian partner universities from Aswan, Mansoura universities, and the center's work team.
Whereas, the main objective of the Center of Excellence for Energy is to build the capacity of higher education institutions to drive innovation, modernization and competitiveness in the public and private sectors and to promote government policy to stimulate economic growth, and to contribute to solutions to the country's development challenges in the energy sector. The Advisory Committee meeting was held today with the purpose of providing an overview of the project objectives and discussing the strategic roadmap for the Centre.
The meeting began with opening speeches from Dr. Omar El-Husseini, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Ain Shams University, followed by Dr. Mahmoud El-Matini, President of Ain Shams University, and Dr. Ayman Ashour, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, who expressed their happiness in cooperating with the Center of Excellence for Energy and Egyptian partner universities to achieve applied research and train graduates. Highly skilled people who meet the evolving needs of the energy sector inside Egypt, hoping to have a fundamental and influential role in preparing for COP 27 and energy development projects in the Administrative Capital. This was followed by an introductory speech from the US Agency for International Development, Ms. Lehr, Deputy Director of Education and Health, where she expressed her happiness to attend the first advisory committee with all partners who represent an elite of energy experts in Egypt, and stressed the importance of cooperation and partnerships, and the exchange of information and ideas, to achieve solutions and innovations Best for energy challenges.
This was followed by an introductory presentation by Dr. Saif Kiai, Director of the Center for Energy Excellence, Arizona State University; During which he discussed the center's roadmap and how the center can have a positive impact on the energy sector inside Egypt.
At the conclusion of the discussions, it was agreed on the importance of developing professional certificates for renewable energy, exchanging training courses for university students, encouraging entrepreneurship and private sector participation, as well as working on developing energy policies and regulations in Egypt.