UI forges links with Zagazig University

JAKARTA (JP): University of Indonesia and Egypt's Zagazig University signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday on research and exchange programs.

The memorandum, signed at University of Indonesia's campus in Depok, a town south of here, is the first agreement between the two universities.

The memorandum was signed by University of Indonesia Rector M.K. Tadjuddin and the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Universities of Egypt, Magid Amin Ahmad, on behalf of Zagazig University.

Egyptian Minister of Education Hussein Kamel Bahaa Eldin, in Indonesia at the invitation of the Ministry of Education and Culture, attended the signing ceremony.

Tadjuddin said that University of Indonesia had been concentrating considerably on Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.

"We feel that the Middle East is an important region to us. Egypt is one of the most prominent countries in the region," he said.

Minister Bahaa Eldin said the agreement marked Egypt's and Indonesia's 50-year-old relationship.

"This is the beginning of a new era of cooperation especially in tertiary education, which is a necessity in this age of the information technology revolution," the minister said.

Egypt was the first nation to acknowledge Indonesia's independence in 1947; two years after Indonesia had proclaimed its independence from the Dutch and two years before official Dutch decolonization.

During his five day visit, the minister has visited several schools in Greater Jakarta.

The Egyptian Embassy explained yesterday why Bahaa Eldin did not show up last Friday at the SMP 13 junior high school in South Jakarta, where 400 students had prepared to greet him.

The embassy released a statement that the minister was not to blame for not attending because the visit was not on his schedule.

The visit was apparently on his initial schedule which was changed by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.

"The embassy was in no way involved in preparing the change in the program. Therefore the Embassy of Egypt is not responsible for something it did not take part in."

When the minister was due to be at the school, he was speaking at an international symposium on vocational education at the Jakarta Convention Center. (35)