LEARNING AND TEACHING COMMITTEE

Subject: The British University in Egypt (BUE)

Origin: Academic Registrar on behalf of BUE Project Group

This paper provides an update on the partnership with BUE.

1. Validation Arrangements

A financial agreement for 3 years to 31 July 2009 was reached with BUE in the summer of 2006 and planning of detailed arrangements has been proceeding. An agreement covering arrangements for 2006/07 was signed on 31 October 2006 at a Board of Trustees meeting in London.

Dates in January and April 2007 have now been agreed for institutional and subject-related validation visits respectively with a view to formal validation being approved by Learning and Teaching Committee and Senate in June 2007. Subject validation will be conducted in two groups of programmes:

Engineering degrees

Business, Economics, Politics and Computer Science degrees

If validation goes ahead, records will be kept by Loughborough on BUE degree level students from 2007/08. The form of degree to be awarded by Loughborough (joint or dual) is yet to be agreed.

2. Progression to Loughborough

Progression arrangements have been agreed with BUE which in principle allow BUE’s top performing students to be considered for entry to Loughborough. Good students from the Preparatory Year may apply for entry to any relevant LU degree and those completing the first year at BUE in Business, Computer Science and some Engineering subjects will be considered for second year entry to appropriate programmes. Some second year entry routes in Engineering still being evaluated. Numbers are not expected to be large and the final admissions decision rests with the Department.

The Tuition Fees Setting Group has recently agreed a 20% fee discount for BUE students transferring to taught degrees at Loughborough.

3. Research Degrees

BUE does not currently have research degree awarding powers. Discussions have been held about different models of registration for a Loughborough PhD. Cost is a major issue for BUE and prospective students. Progress could be possible if workable PhD projects can be identified with suitable students and staff involvement at both institutions. BUE is considering establishing a small group of interested academic staff to take this further.

4. EU R&D Funding

As part of the 2005 Joint Science and Technology action plan between Egypt and the EU, 11 million euros over four years have been set aside by the European Commission for projects involving Egypt. Funding is likely to be allocated within wider calls for proposals under Framework 7 and partners outside the UK and Egypt are likely to be needed. Awareness is currently being raised at BUE and LU by Tarek Hasan who is monitoring further developments with Ray Kent.

5. Update on Developments at BUE

Loughborough’s Vice-Chancellor has now agreed to join BUE’s Board of Trustees.

Approximately 200 of the original 2005 Preparatory year cohort of students are now commencing first year degree studies and over 600 new students have been recruited to the 2006 Preparatory year. Entry standards are the minimum for entry to Egyptian HE, though many have better grades and it should be possible to raise this threshold in 2007. Dentistry and Pharmacy was introduced at Preparatory Year level in September 2006. However, BUE has not been able to secure Egyptian Ministry approval for these programmes due to representations from professional bodies relating to alleged oversupply of graduates. The initially registered students have now transferred to other universities.

BUE has an aspiration for 70% of its academic staff to be from the UK or with direct UK HE experience, but the present figure remains 20-25%. Around 40 new teaching staff (including English language teachers) were recruited to BUE in September 2006, joining approximately 20 existing academic staff. An Egyptian Dean of Engineering has been appointed and BUE have recently placed an advertisement for Dean of Business (in partnership with Vodafone). Negotiations are in hand concerning how Loughborough can help BUE to recruit staff of appropriate calibre.

Three senior BUE staff visited Loughborough on 1 November 2006 and Lynn Tully, Academic Quality Manager will visit on 20 and 21 November 2006.

Author – Jennifer Nutkins

Date - 1 November 2006