UCL and Newgiza University collaborate to train tomorrow’s engineers today

UCL Engineering has entered into a seven-year education collaboration with Newgiza University (NGU) in Egypt to deliver two new, five-year degree courses.

Since its launch in 2016, one of the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA’s) newest and most innovative universities – Newgiza University (NGU), in Egypt – opened its doors to students with the launch of its Health Science Campus, incorporating medicine, pharmacy and dental education. The courses these offered were developed by the UCL Medical School Education Consultancy (MSEC), UCL School of Pharmacy and UCL Eastman Dental Institute in an agreement facilitated by UCL Consultants, part of UCL Innovation & Enterprise.  

An education collaboration built on strong foundations

Through the bonds already developed between NGU and UCL, the latter’s engineering faculty entered into a second collaboration to design, develop and deliver two new undergraduate engineering programs for NGU. These are in ‘Architectural Engineering’ (AE) and ‘Computers, Communications and Autonomous Systems’ (CCAS).

These courses will form the foundation of NGU’s new School of Engineering and provide the university with an impressive start to its journey, as the courses have been built on the philosophy of UCL Engineering’s leading-edge Integrated Engineering Programme (IEP). NGU sought to draw on the key content and philosophies of this unique programme to create a distinctive engineering offering of its own. 

The IEP allows both specialist and interdisciplinary engineering education to be delivered across different disciplines. It also combines innovative teaching methods and an industry-oriented curriculum.

UCL Engineering and NGU will work collaboratively to create and implement the programs to meet the relevant regulatory requirements and local needs. The aim of these two new degrees is to train the next generation of engineers: technical professionals who will be fully equipped to work in, and lead, multi-disciplinary teams to tackle the future challenges and opportunities that will arise through the next industrial revolution.

The roots of this collaboration

UCL Engineering pioneered a radical new approach to education in the faculty – known as the Integrated Engineering Programme (IEP) – back in 2014. The programme has garnered national and international recognition for its combination of a strong foundation in core engineering knowledge with an innovative educational approach. Together they enable students to connect theoretical learning to the practice and skills that will be required of engineers in the 21st century. 

In a word, innovative

The two new and highly innovative degrees mentioned above and launched by NGU in the autumn of 2020 are:

• Architectural Engineering (AE) - This degree will equip students with the ability to develop a creative, critical, experimental and technically rigorous approach to architectural, environmental and structural design and engineering in buildings. 
• Computers, Communications and Autonomous Systems (CCAS) - a degree that will provide NGU graduates with expertise in the design of both the software and hardware required to build the computer systems of the future; focusing on the electronics, computer networking, artificial intelligence and control systems for next generation cloud computing, Internet of Things, communications systems and autonomous machines. 

Both degrees will be awarded by NGU but will be supported by curricula content and expertise from UCL.

Professor Sameh Farid, President of NGU said, “This is an exciting and historic new chapter in the journey of Newgiza University.  Our new School of Engineering will help to train the next generation of engineers, who are fully equipped to work in, and lead, multi-disciplinary teams to tackle future challenges and opportunities that will arise through the next industrial revolution. This also represents an important new phase in our relationship with one of the world’s leading universities in UCL.”

UCL’s Vice-Provost (Enterprise), Dr Celia Caulcott, added: “At UCL we believe that collaboration is key to addressing global social, economic, technological and infrastructure challenges of the future. This education project with NGU exemplifies our approach, and crucially will have long term impact, both in the Middle East and North Africa region, as well as further afield.

Professor John Mitchell, Vice Dean (Education) at UCL Engineering, said:  “The way in which we train engineers today is evolving in response to a rapidly changing world and work environment – which will be marked by themes such as collaboration, multidisciplinarity, automation and sustainability. "That is why we developed the industry-oriented Integrated Engineering Programme (IEP) and we’re delighted to be working with NGU to adopt some of these principles for its School of Engineering. I’ve no doubt that together we will learn more lessons through this experience and continue to evolve our philosophy and approach to engineering education.
 

Roger de Montfort, Managing Director at UCLC, said: “We are delighted to support this next phase of successful collaboration between UCL and NGU. We have a valued and longstanding relationship with NGU and we look forward to helping them deliver a truly distinctive and innovative engineering education to their students.”

From academic excellence to world-class solutions

UCL Consultants Ltd (UCLC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of UCL and a leading provider of academic consultancy services. UCLC draws on world-class expertise from over 6,500 academic and research staff at UCL in support of the mission of UCL Innovation & Enterprise to transform knowledge and ideas into action. UCLC also has particular strengths in helping to develop educational capacity development programmes. Clients include business, government, public sector and higher education (HE) clients in the UK and around the world.

Images

NGU University © Newgiza University
NGU UCL Engineering Signing Ceremony L-R: Professor John Mitchell, Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker, 
middle row: Roger de Montfort, Dr Celia Caulcott, His Excellency Tarek Adel; Professor Sameh Farid, Dr Magdy Ishak, Sir Derek Plumbly; 
bottom row: Professor Emanuela Tilley; Mrs Trish Greenan, Miss Dina Farid © Alejandro Salinas Lopez
Roger de Montfort & Professor Sameh Farid © Alejandro Salinas Lopez