Ain Shams University (Arabic: جامعة عين شمس) is a public university located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950,[1] the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels.
History
Ain Shams University was founded in July 1950, the third-oldest non-sectarian native public Egyptian university (ancient Islamic universities such as Al-Azhar and private institutions such as the American University in Cairo are older), under the name of Ibrahim Pasha's University. Its site used to be a former royal palace, called the Zafarana Palace.[1] The two earlier universities of this kind are Cairo University (Fuad I university formerly) and Alexandria University (Farouk I university formerly). When it was first established, Ain Shams University had a number of faculties and academic institutes, which were later developed into a university.[2] The university's academic structure includes 21 faculties, and 1 high institutes plus 12 centers and special units.[3]
Faculties and institutes
Currently, Ain Shams University offers degrees from 21 different faculties:[4]
Faculty of Graduate Studies and Environment Research
Faculty of Archaeology
Arid Land Agricultural Research Institute
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Faculty of Media and Mass Communication
Campuses
Ain Shams University has eight campuses. Two of them are next to each other, separated by a main road named El-Khalifa El-Maamoun; all of them are in Greater Cairo.[5]
The main campus is in Abbassia, Cairo and houses the Administration and Management at the Saffron Palace, Science Education Development Center, Central Library, Child Hood Center and the University City (students hostel), in addition to the faculties of Computer Science, Science, Law and Art.
The opposite Campus houses the faculty of Commerce, Alsun, pharmaceutical Science and Dentistry.
The Women's College has its own campus. Faculty of Specific Education, Faculty of Education, and Faculty of Agriculture are each on separate campuses in Abassia, Heliopolis, and Shubra El Kheima, respectively.
Filming
In 2012, Misr International films was producing a television series based on the novel Zaat by Sonallah Ibrahim. Filming of scenes set at Ain Shams University was scheduled to occur that year, but Muslim Brotherhood student members and some teachers at the school protested, stating that the 1970s era clothing worn by the actresses was indecent and would not allow filming unless the clothing was changed. Gaby Khoury, the head of the film company, stated that engineering department head Sherif Hammad "insisted that the filming should stop and that we would be reimbursed ... explaining that he was not able to guarantee the protection of the materials or the artists."[6]
Ain Shams University is considered among the universities that are present in all international classifications, which makes it one of the best 3% of the world's universities.[15][16]
