The German University in Cairo (GUC), the first and biggest German university abroad, has opened an office in Berlin. The GUC, founded as an Egyptian private university, will from today (8 February) be represented by an office in the Wissenschaftsforum building on Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt. The new Berlin office is in addition to the GUC’s Germany office at the University of Ulm and will establish and administer new exchange programmes between German universities and the GUC. Just as democracy gets under way in the Arab world, Germany is developing its links with the educated élites of those countries and extending its collaboration in all areas, with an increasing emphasis on research.

The GUC is the first and, with current student numbers at 8400, also the largest university run with German cooperation abroad. It was founded as an Egyptian private university in 2003 with the support of the Universities of Ulm and Stuttgart. It is modelled on German technical universities in its structure and the degree courses on offer, and the degrees students can gain are geared towards newly emergent professions.