Seneca opening 2 campuses in Egypt

North York-based Seneca College and Cairo-based Al Ahly CIRA Company for Educational Services are planning to bring a Seneca education to thousands of students in Egypt.

This would establish two Seneca campuses in Greater Cairo — one in 6th of October City and one in Badr City — with programs in business, engineering, information technology and English language training.

According to a Feb. 9 news release from Seneca, a memorandum of understanding was recently signed in Cairo by Seneca president David Agnew and Karim Saada, board chair of Al Ahly CIRA for Educational Services.

According to the news release, Mohamed Ayman Ashour, Egyptian minister of higher education and scientific research, spoke at the signing ceremony and lauded the agreement for supporting Egypt Vision 2030, the national agenda that includes increasing the availability of higher education for Egyptian youth. Mark Scullion, counsellor and senior trade commissioner, Embassy of Canada to Egypt, also spoke at the ceremony.

Al Ahly CIRA is a joint venture between the Al Ahly Capital Holding Company, the investment arm of the National Bank of Egypt, and CIRA Education. It was formed in 2021 to help make global post-secondary education available to all Egyptians.

“We are delighted to be working with CIRA to offer more opportunities to Egyptian youth to further their education,” said Seneca president David Agnew. “We will bring to Cairo our decades of experience in high-quality polytechnic education that builds great careers for our graduates.”