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Mentoring stays of German experts at the Egyptian partner universities

German and Egyptian project members with Prof. Dr. Sayed Taha, Vice-President of SVU

German and Egyptian project members with Prof. Dr. Sayed Taha, Vice-President of SVU
Image Credit: South Valley University

In the course of the project, gender and equal opportunity experts of Freie Universität Berlin visit the Egyptian partner universities for mentoring stays. The visits aim at developing strategies for the Equal Opportunity Centers together with the Egyptian partners and at assisting the local project teams in implementing equal opportunity policies.

In April 2013, the Chief Gender Equality Officer of Freie Universität Berlin, Mechthild Koreuber, as well as two of her employees visited South Valley University in Qena. In the three-days-program they met Prof. Dr. Abbas Mansour, President of South Valley University, and Prof. Dr. Sayed Taha, Vice President for Community Services and Environmental Affairs. Organized by the project team of SVU, discussion groups with female staff members and students took place in order to assess their needs and problems at the university and to develop strategies for their solution.

In the final discussion, the project team of SVU decided to organize a Girls' Day at South Valley University in December that aims at encouraging school girls to decide in favour of a qualified degree in fields that are presently not typically female, as for example engineering or physics. Furthermore a female students' group will be established starting from spring 2014 to provide female students with a platform for exchange of experiences. The university council has also decided to establish a kindergarten on campus which will be open to children of all university members and therefore is an important step towards achieving work-life balance, not only but especially for female faculty at South Valley University.