AUC School of Business Hosts the 2022 CEMS Master in International Management Graduation Ceremony by Giza Pyramids

The School of Business at The American University in Cairo (AUC) hosted for the first time the 2022 CEMS Master in International Management Graduation Ceremony, which celebrated the graduation of over 1,200 CEMS graduates of 78 nationalities from 34 top business schools around the world. The graduation ceremony, which took place by the Pyramids of Giza, was attended by the graduates, their families, VIP guests and speakers. The celebration was preceded by the 32nd CEMS Annual Events featuring a series of plenary sessions, multiple networking and corporate meetings for the CEMS global network, and social events from November 29 to December 2 in various locations on and off AUC’s New Cairo campus.

CEMS - The Global Alliance in Management Education is the global alliance of 34 leading business schools, 70 multinational companies and eight NGOs that offer the CEMS Master in International Management (CEMS MIM), which AUC School of Business has been part of since 2017. The events and graduation are the highlights of the CEMS academic year.

“It is a great honor to have the opportunity to organize the annual CEMS conference with its range of social and networking events and its long-anticipated graduation ceremony for the upcoming 2021-2022 CEMS graduates at the iconic Pyramids of Giza,” said AUC School of Business Dean Sherif Kamel. He added: “We are proud to be the first business school from the Arab region and the African continent to join the CEMS network. The CEMS program, with its unique mix of global exposure, rigorous syllabus, and powerful combination of theoretical knowledge and experiential learning, is a perfect fit with the School’s goals and aspirations in developing truly global responsible citizens.”

Participants at the various events included Khaled El-Enani, Former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities and several members of CEMS, including the Chair Greg Whitwell, the Executive director Nicole de Fontaines, the Academic Chair Christine Cöté; the President of CEMS Alumni Association Rebecca Ehrnrooth and President of Stockholm School of Economics Lars Strannegard.

In 2019, AUC School of Business welcomed its first CEMS MIM cohort, and today 16 students have graduated from the first two cohorts, with the third cohort graduating this year.

Nicole de Fontaines, executive director of CEMS, said: “The CEMS Alliance is thrilled to hold this year’s Annual Events and Graduation Ceremony at The American University in Cairo School of Business. It is indeed an honor to count the School in our alliance as a member school and we are very grateful to our dear colleagues there for their outstanding hospitality.”

Hakim Meshreki, assistant professor and CEMS-MIM academic director at AUC School of Business. “We are very proud and honored to host such a great event for the first time in Africa and the Middle East. This event brings together all the CEMS family once again after two years of deprivation from the graduation ceremony due to COVID-19.” He added that since its inception, the CEMS program was not just an academic one but a whole journey of networking and discovering other cultures and backgrounds that instills essential values such as responsible leadership, openness, and inclusiveness. “The annual event represents a crowning of all the efforts exerted by members of the CEMS community to prepare the global leaders of tomorrow next to our iconic Pyramids where history inspires the future,” he said.

The 32nd CEMS Annual Events and 2022 Graduation Ceremony engaged deans, academics, thought leaders, students and corporate partners representing Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company and CHUBB Life Insurance.

For more information on the CEMS MIM program AUC School of Business, visit https://business.aucegypt.edu/programs/graduate/cems-mim