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 South
Valley University (SVU), Egypt, is
second to none in the fact that it
covers the largest area in the country
in respect to the other
Egyptian
universities – it provides direct
teaching services to approximately 20%
of the total area of
Egypt. As compared to this
geographical weight, SVU is committed to
a big social service role in the region
of Upper Egypt. As a matter of fact, for
a complete period of 14 years as an
independent university, SVU has been
serving the mission of a distinguished
higher education institution, to
comprise its cultural, educational, and
service commitment. Needless to say,
being a good neighbor and a valued
member of the community is one of its
highest priorities.
With more than 45000 students enrolled,
SVU gives a good record of enrollment
among the teaching institutions in
Upper Egypt in the academic year
2008/09. This high record delivers a
significant message on both the teaching
and social levels. Big changes have been
made in the mechanism of the teaching
process at the University. E-learning
programs and full-facility labs and
lecture halls, as part of a wider
infrastructure plan, have been
inaugurated for student promotion. More
open-air study lounges as well as new
units of student hostels made available
for students like, for example, the new
lecture-hall buildings for Faculties of
Commerce, Law, Sports and Archaeology
and two buildings for the University
Hospital. New buildings for Medicine and
the Central Laboratory are currently
under construction.
Side by side with this kind of
traditional education, SVU has recently
started a successful model experience of
Open Learning that help students and
teachers change learning and teaching
methods by providing appropriate and
alternative materials and support. It
was really challengeable to provide a
quality learning experience without
significant increases in the tuition
fees to more than 10000 students
enrolled in the academic year 2008/09.
This kind of non-traditional distance
and open learning model, needless to
say, adds to the enrichment of the
cultural and educational development of
Upper Egypt; it provides good
opportunities for students to acquire
higher qualification and to meet the new
requirements of quality standards.
In addition to undergraduate education
at the University, postgraduate
education comes as a principal tool.
With the latest updates in the
administrative procedures, application
process and research facilities, SVU has
recorded more than 14000 higher-degree
students enrolled and other 2000
diploma, M.A., Ms.C. and Ph.D. graduate
students in the academic year 2008/09.
This enrollment is, basically, a tribute
to the foregoing in addition to the
creative staff and their responsible
dedication to their students and is also
seen as a record-breaking number in a
truly productive year.
Along with education, social activities
are integral to all teaching
institutions. SVU has made proactive
steps in this regard. For example, some
aspiring activities have been organized
such as:
- Art, Sports and Integrated Medical,
Vet and Planting Convoys;
- SVU for Community Service Day;
- The 3rd International Conference of
the Contemporary Environmental Issues
and Community Participation;
- The 1st International Conference of
the River Nile and its Protection from
Pollution;
- Al-Ahram Book Fair;
- Smoking-free Universities Protocol;
- The 2nd Festival of Orphan Day;
- The 2nd Arabic Conference of Arab
Children.
In the course of the socio-educational
extension, SVU, through its three
Faculties of Education (FoE) in
collaboration with its Centers for
Skills Development and Training, has
executed a number of programs for
training Experimental School teachers of
basic sciences courses on developing
their skills of the English language.
FoEs have also managed a variety of
other training programs such as: the
testing program as part of the national
strategic development plan of school
teachers, quality and accreditation
training for certain schools, the
national kindergarten standard
references training for kindergarten
teachers, supervisors and principals,
and quality criteria of
secondary-schools management training
for secondary-schools' vice-principals.
Such social activities render real
opportunities for students and
surrounding community to creation,
responsibility and development towards
more non-traditional methods of
education at SVU.
As a focal part of the Institutional
Strategic Planning Project (ISPP), SVU
has been the first Egyptian University
to finalize its Strategic Planning
Project 2008-2022 and has, hereby,
outlined its own Strategic Planning Unit
for assessing opportunities of higher
education in Upper Egypt. As a result,
the University Projects Management Unit
(UPMU) has been created with a myriad of
relevant units like, for example, the
Center for Quality Assurance and
Accreditation Project with branch units
in the Faculties operating within the
project, E-learning Center for fostering
distance education, and other various
support centers.
Equally important are the research and
logistical services SVU offers to its
faculty and teaching staff. More than
150 scholarships have been provided and
more than 20% of its total teaching
staff members have been supported and
promoted to different national and
international conferences for knowledge
transfer and exchange of ideas.
Moreover, to cope with the diversity,
complexity, internationalization and the
changing nature of demands for education
services, SVU has managed to sign, in
addition to activating the previously
agreed-upon Memoranda of Understanding (MoU's)
and Collaboration Agreements, a number
of new MoU's and Cooperation Agreements
with some international universities and
research institutes such as 10 MoU's
with Chinese Universities and other 3
with Universities of Catania and Bari,
Italy and Munich, Germany. It is now a
basic fact to SVU that such
international collaboration paves for
more competition and curtaining the
rates of investment in the action plans
being integral to its vision. It is also
notable that SVU has received the
necessary allocated funding to certain
internationally-competitive and
institutional projects such as
TEMPUS
and
FP7.
Investigating that new approach to
scientific competition, aspiring faculty
and staff have been awarded
Encouragement Rewards for their
scientific excellence and reflective
contributions, which necessitates a
significant level of knowledge
accumulation and professionalism.
Profiting from the Egyptian-wide
Libraries Automation Project, SVU's
Digital Library Project gets this year
into a new stage with 10 more libraries
operating within the project and new
subscriptions to international
periodicals, journals and access to
worldwide reference resources and
databases. In addition, all faculty are
now able to utilize the digital library
services completely free of charge. In
its technical report 9, the Egyptian
University Libraries Consortium (EULC)
has ranked SVU No. 1 among the other
Egyptian Universities in the following
digital applications:
Use of worldwide databases such as
Scopus, ScienceDirect, ASP, and Global
Health;
Download full-text papers;
Upload abstracts.
SVU has exerted an invaluable effort in
the area of student training on a
variety of labor market skills through
its training institutes, primarily to
provide them with new perspectives.
Pathways to Higher Education Project
gives a distinctive example in fostering
student leadership skills as well as in
training them on computer, including
training on the International Computer
Driving License (ICDL) with an
international recognition, modern
European languages and effective
presentation skills; not to mention too,
inviting non-Egyptian,
non-Arabic-speaking students to apply
for their postgraduate studies and
learning Arabic at the University as
part of Teaching Arabic as a Foreign
Language Program (TAFL).
Student activities are also a flashy
highlight of the academic year 2008/09.
The University, for example, has
organized a bunch of activities like:
In March 2009, round 12th of the Art
Gathering with a participation of 20
Arabic Universities;
In November 2008, the 4th Futsal
Championship (or Hall Football
Championship) has gathered 27 Arabic
Universities;
In November 2009, the 5th Futsal
Championship with 24 Arabic
Universities;
In December 2009, the Top Match of
Speed Ball with 18 competing Egyptian
Universities;
Round 14th of the Art and Scouts
Gathering of the Arabic Universities is
planned to take place in March 2010.
It is doubtless that student activities
are important in fostering student
participation in curricular activities
which feed their spirit of competition,
and can also be important in their
overall engagement with the University
that may be related to positive
educational outcomes.
Also, the introduction of the "live@edu"
email service to students and staff at
SVU is a giant leap in the flexibility
of interaction and better contact.
Utilizing the facilities of the
Information and Communication Technology
Project (ICTP), students and staff are
now able to download eBooks, free
software and tutorials of Microsoft
products and to design their own home
pages. It also provides space enough for
users to exchange files and rooms for
chatting service.
Not only students that enjoy SVU's
training capacity but the campus
technical and administrative staff too.
During 2008/09, SVU has managed and
organized more than 30 on-campus (and
off-campus, in cooperation with
administrative development agencies)
training programs to over 2500 trainees
of its technical and administrative
staff, primarily for developing their
managerial skills, identifying the new
approaches to leadership and management
methodologies and experiencing how to
manage crises. Given how this is
important, tech. and administrative
staff are now able to incorporate modern
techniques received into their job
responsibilities.
It is also significant to note in this
respect that SVU has achieved a success
in self-sufficiency of the various
consumer goods through, for example,
direct selling of food products and
bread, produced at the University farms,
to its staff and students as well as
definite contributions to the
surrounding Qena people.
One natural outcome of all these
activities and efforts being made is the
international ranking of SVU website.
According to "4 International Colleges
and Universities" worldwide website, SVU
is ranked 17 among the top 100
Universities and Colleges in Africa, 44
according to "alexa" website, and 79
according to "webometrics" worldwide
website.
That is only a brief account of SVU in
the academic year 2009/2010; for more
information and contact with our
University, you are heartily invited to
take a tour into our website:
www.svu.edu.eg, and please feel free to
contact me for any enquiries,
information and/or suggestions at: psvu@svu.edu.eg
or info@svu.edu.eg.
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