The purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with the laboratories of the project partners, the equipment of which is being upgraded with the support of the project, and to advise Egyptian colleagues on the renewal of the curricula in the field of marine engineering and maritime studies. The European partners also had meetings and discussions with lecturers and students of both universities.

Kalju shares his impressions of the visit to the universities in Cairo and Alexandria and of the meetings that took place: “I recently had the opportunity to visit two universities in Egypt – Ain Shams University in Cairo and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) in Alexandria. Both impressed me with their size, internationality and the organization of their educational activities.

Compared to Estonian universities, their scale is completely different. Ain Shams University has over 150,000 students. The large number of students also means that the university has several campuses, each of which is like a different world in itself.

The international atmosphere is also notable. English-language education is the standard at both universities, which brings together students from different countries. In addition, there is active cooperation with universities of Great Britain, the United States, China and many other countries. Such global connections give students much broader opportunities than traditional local education.

The large and well-equipped laboratories of universities were also impressive. The AASTMT in Alexandria has established several research and simulator centers and follows international standards in teaching. The Ain Shams Faculty of Engineering stood out in particular, as it has received a large number of training benches for teaching electronics and other modern teaching aids thanks to cooperation with China. This shows that the university is strongly contributing to the development of engineering education and wants to offer world-class technology training.

Overall, the visit to Egyptian universities left a very positive impression. While Estonia focuses on quality in a small and flexible system, Egypt's strength is scale, international reach and the courage to invest in future technologies.“

The GEMS-TECH project partners are now starting to prepare online courses (MOOCs) that are intended for maritime specialists from African countries, as well as for other interested parties.

The next expert meeting will take place in Kenya in June