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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. |
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