Cairo, University of

founded in 1908 with private funds; transformed in 1925 into a state university and placed under the Ministry of Public Education.

After the revolution of 1952, the University of Cairo received material support from the state and broadened its student body, both from Arab and other states. The number of students enrolled in the natural science faculty rose significantly, and an enormous amount of work was done to create textbooks in Arabic.

In 1938 a branch of the University of Cairo was created in Alexandria. Out of it grew the University of Alexandria, which opened in 1942. In 1955 a branch of the University of Cairo was opened in Khartoum (Sudan). In 1962 a branch (faculty of medicine) was opened in Al-Mansura. Taha Husayn, the Egyptian writer and scholar who subsequently created the chair of classical philology, was once a student at the university.

In the 1971-72 academic year, there were 12 faculties at the University of Cairo: philology, law, two faculties of commerce, socioeconomic and political sciences, natural sciences, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, agriculture, and Arab philology (Dar al-Ulum). More than 64, 000 students attended the university, and approximately 3, 000 instructors worked there.

Instruction is conducted basically in Arabic, although Englishand French are also used in the natural sciences and technicalfaculties. Attached to the University of Cairo are the Océano-graphie Institute in Suez, a biological station on the Red Sea(Al-Ghurdaqah), the Helwan Astronomical Observatory, theInstitute of Statistical Studies and Research, and other scientificresearch institutes and laboratories. The university library, which was founded in 1932, has more than 500, 000 volumes(1971).