Ashraf Abo Arafe
For the past 35 years, UK’s global scholarship programme Chevening has provided fully-funded scholarships to Egypt’s brightest minds. On this occasion, the British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams welcomed Chevening Alumni and 2017/2018 retuning scholars to celebrate the programme’s continued success.
Over 1,300 Egyptians have benefitted from the scholarship so far. Past scholars include: Current Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty; Former Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Ziad Bahaa El-Din; Vice Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policy Ahmed Kouchouk; and Head of EGX Mohamed Farid.
During the event, the British Ambassador presented recognition awards to Chevening Alumni in five categories: Mr. Mostafa Kamel received the Community Service Award, Ms. Norhan El Sakkout received the Entrepreneurial Award, Mr. Mostafa Adel received the Social Media Ambassador Award. Mr. Maged Shawky received the Lifetime Achievement Award while Nevine El-Nahass won the UK – Egypt Relations Award.
BP Egypt, Misr Al-Kheir Foundation, and HSBC Bank generously contributed to funding eight scholars this year.
British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams said: “Today demonstrates what the UK-Egypt education partnership can achieve; confident Egyptians who believe in their abilities. Equipped with the right skills and backed by world-class education, they are ready to take on any challenge. Chevening invests in this country’s brightest minds so they contribute to the development of their country. We are confident that this generation of Chevening students will go on to be leading doctors, engineers, journalists and politicians of the future.”
The British Embassy launched the “Education is great” week to celebrate the strengthening partnership between Egypt and UK in the field of education. The week was kicked off with the announcement of a £ 12m programme to support education reform.
About Chevening:
Chevening Scholarships are the UK Government’s global scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organisations. The scholarship offers full financial support for future leaders to study for any eligible master’s degree at any of the UK’s world-leading universities. Applicants must have leadership skills and at least two years of work experience. Further information is available on www.chevening.org.
About winners:
Mostafa Kamal – MA of Disability Studies from Leeds University in 2008 and currently doing his PhD at the same university. Kamal worked with the administration of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) to establish a disability unit, in order to guarantee, promote, and protect the rights of children with disability in Egypt. He also participated in the technical committee for drafting the disability articles included in the 2014 Egyptian constitution.
Norhan El Sakkout – MA in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship – Fashion, Goldsmiths University of London in 2015-16. She is the Founder and Creative Director of Saqhoute fashion brand. Through her brand, she is keen to revive and honour Egyptian crafts and heritage, by working with local skilled artisans and embedding cultural heritage in the designs of the garments.
Mostafa Adel – MSc in Project Management Robert Gordon University in 2015-16. Adel joined GIZ as Technical Advisor. He is now leading the Life Skills and Citizenship Education component at UNICEF Egypt.
Nevine El Nahas – Master of Health Policy Planning and Finance from LSHTM in 2016-17. Nevine is currently the Minister’s Associate for health insurance affairs, Head of the technical office of the Minister of Health. She worked on the cooperation between Egypt and the UK in the field of healthcare specially for transferring UK Education experience to the Egyptian Health sector.
Maged Shawky – MSc in Financial Economics at Queen Mary University 1997. Shawky was the former Chairman of the Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange, he is currently the Vice Chairman at Beltone Financial.
