(Photocredit: DAAD/Michael Assad)

Academic advising can be key to the student’s success later on in university. The Cairo Liaison Office of Freie Universität Berlin had therefore the pleasure to initiate and organize on 31st October 2019 together with the DAAD, the Goethe Institute, and the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA) a one day training session for academic advisors from various PASCH* schools from all over Egypt.

The training session evolved around topics that are interesting to any student who is considering to study in Germany. The DAAD contributed with a session on general information on the student life in Germany. Furthermore and as the PASCH initiative comprises of schools with different university entrance qualifications, the DAAD presentation also included very useful information on the application requirements. Dr. Stefan Petri, Head of the Center for Academic Advising and Psychological Counseling of FU Berlin and his colleague Saskia Huppertz took over to give the participants a deeper insight on questions they might face in their day-to-day job as study counselors as well as online tools that they could use to answer these questions. In the last part of the training, the academic advisors were divided into different groups according to the type of schools. While the Goethe Institute and the ZfA further discussed the language requirements that are necessary to study in Germany, the representatives of the seven German Schools in Egypt had the chance to had the chance to further discuss their questions with the representatives of FU Berlin.

18 academic advisors participated in the full day training session representing the following 13 schools:

• Bashaer School
• Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule
• Deutsche Schule Beverly Hills
• Deutsche Schule der Borromäerinnen Kairo
• Deutsche Schule Futures El Rehab,
• Elite School
• Europa Schule Kairo
• Future Language School Alexandria
• Knowledge Valley School
• Nefertari Deutsche Schule
• Neue Deutsche Schule Alexandria
• Rowad Schule
• Safwa School

13th Study information Day at the German School in Dokki

The training session for academic advisors followed the study information day that was organized on the 30^th October 2019 by the DAAD Cairo Office for the 13th time this year at the German School in Dokki. Around 500 students from grade 11 and 12 from the seven German Schools from all over Egypt attended the study information day, which started with an overview presented by the DAAD Cairo office on general information to be known about studying in Germany. This was followed by an array of presentations of the participating universities. Dr. Petri held two presentations informing the eager students of the German schools about the vast opportunities that FU Berlin offers, besides also holding a separate presentation about studying psychology at FU Berlin. Beside the FU Berlin information booth that was available throughout the day on the DEO campus to answer the students questions, separate group counseling sessions were also organized by FU Berlin to answer specific questions for disciplines such as medicine, natural sciences, law and other disciplines that were not covered by other universities during that day. With approximately 80% of German schools students in Egypt intending to study in Germany, the students seemed to be very happy to have this opportunity to get first-hand information on study opportunities to be able to make the right decision about their future.

See the photo gallery here  

*PASCH stands for the "Schools: Partners for the Future" initiative and is an initiative of the Federal Foreign Office in cooperation with the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA), the Goethe-Institut (GI), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Educational Exchange Service of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (PAD). The aim of PASCH is to create and strengthen a global network of some 1500 partner schools with special links to Germany.