With the start of Fall 2020, AUC has introduced three new undergraduate business programs to its portfolio: Bachelor of Business and Entrepreneurship, Bachelor of Business in finance, and Bachelor of Business in marketing. This is in addition to its existing Bachelor of Business Administration in management of information and communication technology.

Along with the new programs, an elective experiential learning course, Cooperative Education (Co-Op), is now offered in business undergraduate programs, enabling students to experience on-the-job training on a full-time basis with external entities. 

Last but not least, the AUC MBA program has also undergone a revamp; now spanning two years instead of three and becoming a general program with two career paths substituting the previously existing track specializations.

New Business Administration Bachelor’s Degrees

The three new undergraduate programs replace the Bachelor of Business Administration degree with concentrations in marketing, finance, management of information technology, and entrepreneurship and international business. 

The Bachelor of Business and Entrepreneurship prepares students to become “business-ready” by acquiring the skills needed to become responsible business leaders and adapt to complex situations — exploring and unleashing their creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial thinking to pave the way for running a new business venture. 

The Bachelor of Business in finance provides students with a comprehensive learning experience that transforms them into well-rounded professionals. By gaining transferrable, deep financial knowledge that can be applied both locally and globally, students fully grasp a given industry’s best practices and a business’ various functions.  

The Bachelor of Business in marketing delivers a multidisciplinary learning experience that takes into account several perspectives to accommodate to the changing industry requirements. Exploring topics such as psychology, information systems, and data analytics, students are prepared not only for a career in business or in a traditional business setting, but in any industry that requires transforming analytics into strategy. 

"The three new undergraduate programs are part of the continuous curriculum advancement plan of the Department of Management at AUC’s School of Business,” said Maha Mourad, chair of the Department of Management and associate professor of marketing. “In addition to their specific focus on either finance, marketing or entrepreneurship, the way the programs have been structured and the multidisciplinary aspects they entail aim to provide students with a well-rounded business exposure.” 

Redefining the AUC MBA Experience

The Master of Business Administration has been reshaped to include contemporary topics such as data analytics, digital transformation, and innovative global business models have been accentuated, and experiential and action-based learning have been profoundly incorporated to make for an immersive experience. Featuring courses broken down to smaller credit hour units, the highlight of the new MBA framework is becoming a two-year program instead of a three-year one and the added flexibility of topic selections within the business seminar courses.

Content-wise, the program adopts a dynamic, general format that eliminates the previously existing specializations. Graduate students now select among two career prospect tracks to tailor their business education depending on their objectives: corporate advancement, focusing on career growth opportunities within organizations, and entrepreneurship, focusing on entrepreneurial firms and family businesses. 

“Revamping the MBA program was a challenging process, especially in adapting to the ongoing changing market needs” said Sherwat Elwan, director of the MBA programs and associate professor of operations management. “This restructuring empowers us to fully prepare our students for the workplace of the future by tackling contemporary topics and skills that lie at the heart of every leader, paving their way to becoming vehicles for impact and change.”

On-the-Job Training: Cooperative Education

Additionally, a new experiential learning course, Cooperative Education (Co-OP), was introduced for students majoring in business as part of their general electives. In this course, students are directly engaged, on a full-time basis, with external entities for six months. During this period, students are assigned specific tasks relevant to their area of study as a form of on-the-job training and are evaluated on key learning objectives by academic faculty and an external entity counterpart.

“The Co-Op program is really a triple-win model. First, it enhances the student’s learning experience, career readiness, and placement quality. Second, it constitutes a continuous feedback channel regarding the quality of students and curricula. Third, it provides the employer with a natural extended monitoring and recruitment setting which should lead to better hiring decisions” said Ahmed Abdel-Meguid, associate dean of undergraduate studies and administration and associate professor of accounting, AUC School of Business.

These new programs and courses aim to equip today’s business students with the comprehensive knowledge they require to navigate an ever-changing business landscape, entailing real-world experience, adaptability, interdisciplinary knowledge, efficiency, and critical thinking. 

AUC welcomes the Class of 2024 — with their aspirations and endeavors —while implementing a hybrid model of classes with an emphasis on maintaining a low-density campus, where 93% of classes will be held online and only 7% will meet face to face when required.

"I warmly welcome both new and returning AUCians to this bright new academic year, promising an unusual wealth of challenges and opportunities," said President Francis Ricciardone in his welcome message to the AUC community. "I am pleased to welcome an especially strong incoming freshman class."

Made up of approximately 1,200 undergraduates — 58% females and 42% males — and more than 340 admitted graduate students — 70% females and 30% males — the incoming class hails from 26 diverse countries, including the United States, Canada, Spain and Brazil, as well as different parts of Africa and the Middle East such as Nigeria, Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Palestine, Tunisia and, of course, Egypt. Egyptian students are joining AUC from 20 governorates across the country, including Ismailia, Alexandria, Dakahlia and The New Valley.

This year also marks the kickoff of the USAID Scholars program, which received more than 4,000 applications from all of Egypt's 27 governorates.

With a selectivity of 40%, representing a 7% improvement over last fall, and a yield — the percentage of students who enroll from those we accept — of about 77%, entry to AUC remains highly competitive. AUC continues to provide more than $22.3 million in scholarships and financial aid.

This year, more than 100 new international students are studying at AUC, and around 3.4% of undergraduate students are international.

Sara Toutain, an international student studying translation at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, has been in Egypt for a week and a half. "It's been an incredible experience; people are super welcoming. They are helping us with our classes and courses, and they really want to learn Spanish from us, which is really fun — a super amazing experience," she said.

Alba Fernandez, who is also studying translation at UAB Barcelona, came to AUC to learn Arabic. "I am pleasantly surprised. I love the people here; I love the place. The University is amazing. I am very happy to be here," she said.

Rachel Campbell is joining AUC from Canada to pursue a master's in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). "My experience in Egypt has been great," she said. "I've lived here for a year already, but my experience at AUC has been fantastic. The organizing team has been great. They also bought me coffee twice. I love them. They are doing awesome."

Approximately 200 of the enrolled undergraduates have already declared majors in sciences and engineering, while other students will navigate courses before deciding on their majors.

For freshman Omar Mehanna, one of the main reasons he applied to AUC is its liberal arts education. "I expect to meet a huge number of people with diverse backgrounds and with different perspectives on life than I have. I also expect to take part in cocurricular activities to develop my skills professionally and personally," he said.

Likewise, Nour Khalifa is also looking forward to being part of AUC's diverse community and meeting new people, whether through sports teams, students organizations or classes. "I applied to AUC because I want to study psychology, and it's the only University that offers what I need," she said.

Sarah Koura, a freshman intending to major in either political science or business administration, decided to join AUC for the global experience, cocurricular activities and victorious sports teams. "AUC is unique," she said. "It's the only University in Egypt that gives you the 'abroad' experience in your homeland," she said.

For the first time, AUC’s First-Year Program (FYP) for incoming students will be blended this fall.

The integrated orientation will be mostly virtual with two days of face-to-face interaction on campus that includes the Engagement Fair as well as other on-ground activities, where students will be divided into small cohorts who come to campus on different days. New additions to FYP this year include sessions on IT solutions and services as well as combatting sexual harassment, YouVisit virtual tour, AUC-Connect hub and a pre-orientation guide for students to use throughout the year. 

“This makes FYP distinctive this time not only because it is mostly online due to the pandemic, but also because it is a hybrid orientation done for the first time in Egypt,” said Dina Wahdan, electronics and communications engineering student and FYP president. “This year, we are focusing on the transitioning of first-year students in all academic aspects as well as their personal development and engaging them with the AUC community.”

How It’s Done Virtually

For starters, the orientation consists of two online days and two days on campus. The online days will be mostly held on Zoom and will provide incoming students with all information they need, while still including online activities that will help them engage with their Peer Leaders and colleagues. The on-ground days will include some activities along with the Engagement Fair, in which students get the chance to sign up for their preferred clubs.

New additions this year include a session on IT solutions and services, since the semester will be hybrid, and a separate health insurance session for new international students. FYP also launched a pre-orientation guide this year that doesn’t only help incoming students during orientation, but is also available for them all year long. “The guide includes information about what makes AUC distinctive as a liberal arts University, policies, facilities and all what students need to know about AUC,” Wahdan added.

The guide was delivered asynchronously in advance of the dates of the virtual component with readings and assignments in a flipped-class mode. “This better ensures that FYP students are prepared and ready to engage with other students on day one of the virtual component,” said Ahmed Zain, student development manager at the Office of the Dean of Students.

The incoming students are divided into smaller batches this year, where all students will be required to use AUC Connect — a hub that connects sessions and participants to ensure effective, user-friendly and interactive learning, as it will include the orientation schedule, individual student sections and all Zoom links according to group numbers. Each virtual class section will include 16 new students rather than 25, while students will be divided in virtual breakout rooms to work independently and present their work to their peers.

“The Peer Leaders are currently trained to use Zoom and features such as breakout rooms, polls and chat to create lively, interactive sessions,” said Zain. “An important new feature of the orientation this year is the AUC-Connect app, which hosts [everything] in a friendly and interactive platform. This helps students navigate things and engage with their peers more easily.”

After the orientation ends, all incoming students will be required —for the first time — to take a quiz to test what they grasped during the orientation and point out areas that need further development. Students are also required to fill out a survey after completing the orientation, where they assess their overall experience and write their feedback on all aspects of the program, including content, activities and any technical issues they faced. “All of this … shows how we as a team go beyond [what’s required], even in these circumstances, and this is what makes us distinctive,” explained Wahdan.

Train the Trainers

Before starting the virtual orientation, the FYP team conducted focus groups, where 70 students from the incoming class volunteered to attend and test the system that will be used throughout the program, providing their feedback and thoughts on how to facilitate the process and enrich the experience for both students and the FYP team. “The thorough feedback we have requested from first-year students and Peer Leaders enabled us to enhance the experience on both ends,” said Wahdan.

The FYP student orientation team is made up of 140 Peer Leaders who volunteer their time to help set incoming students on the right path and familiarize them with the AUC experience. An important addition to FYP this year is training the Peer Leaders different to deliver the best quality of service, given the COVID-19 situation. AUC’s Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) trained Peer Leaders on how to provide interactive virtual sessions using new software programs, building on the experience of AUC faculty during the Spring 2020 semester. “The FYP team modified the orientation’s content to best align with the new blended learning format, including reconceiving the in-class games in a virtual format to provide the same high-quality experience that new students expect from AUC,” said Zain.

The FYP Core Leadership used CLT’s Training of Trainers model to train Peer Leaders on navigating different online learning tools such as Zoom, Blackboard and Moodle. One-to-one sessions were also provided for the Peer Leaders.

In addition, sessions on combating sexual harassment have been integrated into the integrated orientation this fall, familiarizing students with how to address the definition of sexual harassment, ways to report a perceived instance of sexual harassment and measures taken by AUC to protect those who report such incidents. Peer Leaders will also inform incoming students of different resources at AUC that could help victims of sexual harassment. Following the session, a quiz will be taken to measure gains in awareness among FYP students. There will also be a follow up with further awareness sessions for anyone performing poorly on the quiz.

It’s Still Fun

“Just because sessions are online doesn’t preclude being fun and exciting,” affirmed Zain. “Online training can be engaging if facilitators are trained to design student-centered activities in small group settings.”

Thus, the Office of Student Life has designed the Engagement Fair take place on the third day of the FYP orientation, split over two days in tandem with the FYP schedule, in three different locations, to decrease the number of students on campus at any point in time. More areas of the campus are being used so that students are spread out to the greatest extent, and all activities take place outdoors. FYP also designed additional on-campus engagement activities that will supplement and enhance the experience of students who are being introduced to the New Cairo campus for the first time.

Virtual Campus Tour

The YouVisit virtual tour is a new feature of the FYP experience this fall, where a Student Ambassador will join the tour virtually to narrate the full experience.

“As FYP president, I constantly make it a point to keep my team motivated and to not only remind them of our purpose as an entity, but also to make them aware that our attempt to make this orientation succeed makes us unique, given the current circumstances,” Wahdan said. “To me, FYP is the most important phase where incoming students truly attempt to engage with University life. Although this pandemic has caused the world to slow down, we have come to see that with dedication, passion and a collective effort, nothing is impossible and impact can be made even with the smallest gestures.”

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) — together with AUC, MIT and Community Jameel —launched a new regional research center in the Middle East and North Africa, J-PAL MENA, focused on alleviating poverty and improving lives through evidence-informed policymaking. 

Based at AUC's School of Business, J-PAL MENA becomes J-PAL’s seventh regional center. Since J-PAL was founded at MIT in 2003 by Professors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, recipients of the 2019 Nobel Prize in economics, the center has established regional offices in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, South Asia and Southeast Asia. The launch of J-PAL MENA builds on several years of collaboration among J-PAL and AUC, being an expansion of the existing J-PAL/AUC initiative, which commenced at the School of Business in 2018. 

Speaking on behalf of Community Jameel, the global philanthropy organization that has worked in partnership with J-PAL and supported it since 2005, President, International Fady Jameel, said: “The concept of supporting communities has been in the family’s heritage for 75 years, and this same concept has been key to J-PAL’s work around the world since it was founded in 2003. The announcement of the new office in Cairo will be instrumental in bringing J-PAL’s evidence-informed approach to our home region, which uses randomized evaluations to identify programs that can have the biggest positive impact on the most vulnerable communities in MENA.”

J-PAL’s rigorous, scientific approach to evaluating social programs and policies helps shed light on the most effective approaches to reducing poverty. J-PAL MENA, in particular, will bring this approach to the region, leading on three main activities: using the Nobel Prize-winning experimental approach to inform high-level decision making; working with governments, NGOs, foundations and other organizations to bridge the gap between research and policy; and leading training programs and workshops for policy professionals and researchers to help build a culture of evidence-informed policymaking across the region.  

Through these core activities, J-PAL MENA will address some of the most complex and interconnected challenges causing poverty in the region, which have been exacerbated in recent months by the COVID-19 pandemic. Children in MENA have among the lowest learning outcomes, youth and women struggle to find quality employment, women’s agency is among the lowest in the world, environmental and energy resources are strained, and conflict has left many communities facing displacement and in need of humanitarian assistance.

Sherif Kamel ‘88, ‘90, ‘13, dean of AUC’s School of Business, said, “We are proud to be the home of J-PAL MENA, leveraging AUC’s long history of engaging in cutting-edge policy-relevant research. With J-PAL MENA, we aim to build an ecosystem for evidence-based policy, crowding in regional academics and training future development researchers, forging partnerships with policymakers, and bridging the gap between academic research and policymakers in the region.”

Speaking on behalf of J-PAL, Iqbal Dhaliwal, global executive director of J-PAL, noted: "J-PAL’s regional offices are locally grounded hubs for innovation, evaluation and scaling. For almost 15 years, our regional offices have forged close partnerships with governments, NGOs and foundations, and have supported the use of evidence in decision making to improve the lives of tens of millions. With the launch of J-PAL MENA, I am thrilled that J-PAL will have a permanent home in the region and deepen our work with committed partners in Egypt and across MENA.”

MIT President L. Rafael Reif echoed similar sentiments: “With endless energy and ingenuity, Community Jameel continues to help MIT find new ways to spur positive change for vulnerable communities around the world. J-PAL’s expansion into the MENA region comes at an opportune moment, when the COVID-19 pandemic is having especially devastating effects on those living in poverty. Reflecting the bold and generous spirit of the Jameel family, J-PAL MENA will be a catalyst for research, partnerships and programs that will improve people’s lives.”

J-PAL MENA will be led by scientific directors Bruno Crépon, professor of economics and econometrics at Institut Polytechnique de Paris, ENSAE and École Polytechnique, and Adam Osman, assistant professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Together with J-PAL’s professional staff, regional academics and policymakers, the new center will generate timely and useful research to improve policy and reduce poverty across the MENA region

A case study submitted by AUC's School of Business El-Khazindar Business Research and Case Center titled "Technology Park Company: Harvesting the Fruits of a Family Business” won the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition’s Family Business category.

The case study is authored by Ashraf Sheta, assistant professor in the Department of Management, in collaboration with a number of students: Gamila Ibrahim, Ahmed Mostafa, Ahmed Medhat, Ali Yehia Fouda, and Farah Tarek El Mosalami. It was the main learning output for the students through their Family Business undergraduate course. 

"It is a great honor to be recognized by one of the most prestigious case competitions," Ibrahim said. "The EFMD Case Competition gave me the opportunity to work with smart-minded, enthusiastic and visionary artists."

The case revolves around Technology Park Company, a privately owned company operating in the IT field. Telling the story of the entrepreneur, the case moves through a timeline that takes the readers on the journey of his success, including challenges, speed bumps and family business-related concerns pertaining to the Egyptian context, such as succession, partner involvement, and separation of ownership and management.

"With family businesses being so common in Egypt, and especially with the rise in the startup ecosystem, family business topics are relevant now more than ever," said El-Mosalami. 

Echoing the same sentiment, Moustafa said, "While the award itself is a symbol of the hard work and collaboration with my peers, the journey of our personal aspiration is what I admire most about it. The small victories we had throughout the project are what I cherish. I'd like to thank Dr. Ashraf Sheta and my teammates for this outstanding achievement." Read more student testimonials here.

This achievement comes in line with KCC’s drive to become the leading case development center in the Middle East and North Africa region and the primary link between academic research and practical applications. This is an aim that is mirrored by EFMD’s focus on publishing case content that represents all regions. 

Sherif Kamel '88, '90, '13, dean of AUC School of Business, remarks: “At the AUC School of Business, we believe in the profound impact of case-based learning in linking business and academia. We’re delighted to be the winners of the Family Business category of EFMD’s Case Competition, not only because of our commitment to blending theory with practice and integrating real-life market experiences and trends in our students’ learning, but also because family business is one of the main strategic themes of the school.”

Held annually since 1988, the case writing competition encourages innovative and impactful case writing and teaching. It includes 17 categories representing critical managerial areas to which case authors can contribute to management development and some of its future challenges. 

Cases are evaluated based on content (the ability to create a strong and interesting learning experience), form (a good balance between a well-told story and sufficient data), teaching notes (accompanying each submission to enhance the learner’s experience) and innovation (ideas should improve teaching and student engagement).

“We are honored to receive the prestigious EFMD competition award for the year 2019," Sheta noted. "The field of family business is still young, and the most interesting aspect of it is that it is a mix between several disciplines with different factors, ranging from emotions to analysis of rigid data. Realizing the importance of case orientation as a learning pedagogy within business schools, we hope that our case can help to develop the discipline of family business further."

AUC's School of Business, championed by KCC, had launched and sponsored a new category of case studies within the 2019 EFMD case writing competition, the Responsible Business category. Receiving a total of 43 submitted cases, the category mainly included cases that addressed corporate governance, financial reporting and auditing, integrated reporting, anti-corruption, business ethics, social marketing, gender equality, corporate sustainability, and responsible business education and practices. 

AUC will be providing voluntary mentorship support for entrepreneurs as part of the Gemini Uplift initiative to support entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The initiative, launched by Gemini Enterprises Africa, aims to revive the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Egypt and Africa during these difficult times through money, matchmaking and mentorship. Gemini focuses on supporting entrepreneurship in Africa, and particularly projects focused on social dimensions. 

"In brief, AUC and Gemini signed an MOU early this year, aiming to work together on student initiatives that would support entrepreneurship, including competitions and activities that would involve AUC students, such as graduation projects and entrepreneurial mentoring activities," said Ahmed Tolba, associate provost for strategic enrollment managements and associate professor of marketing.

More than 30 institutions joined the initiative, and AUC's role focuses on providing mentoring resources primarily through faculty. This is a voluntary service by each faculty member.

AUC signed an MOU with Gemini a few months ago, whereby they could support the Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program, a project hosted in Tolba's office.

AUC has been reaffirmed for its national accreditation with the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE).

NAQAAE was founded to enhance the quality of education in Egypt by developing an integrated system to assure education quality. AUC was the first University in Egypt to receive the NAQAAE accreditation in 2010, with additional school- and department-level accreditation for the School of Sciences and Engineering and Department of Management within the School of Business. With this reaffirmation, AUC maintains its status as both a nationally accredited University as well as an American-accredited University with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).

“Maintaining the MSCHE as well as the NAQAAE accreditation for years ensures that AUC is sustaining quality education and service based on Egyptian and international standards,” said Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman. “It validates our hard work, confirms to the public the validity of our programs and positively impacts the educational experience and future prospects of our students.”

The reaffirmation process was a rigorous self-assessment coordinated by the Office of Strategy Management and Institutional Effectiveness (SMIE), which was responsible for leading and facilitating the institutions accreditation efforts throughout the process.

“In higher education, institutional accreditation promises a standard of excellence,” attested Iman Megahed ’90, ’92, AUC's chief knowledge and strategy officer. “Accreditation is a transformative process for universities, as it supports the institution’s mission and allows it to provide students with the quality educational experience they deserve.”

An Accreditation Steering Committee -- co-chaired by Professor Ezzat Fahmy, construction engineering; Professor Basil Kamel, architecture; and Associate Professor Atta Gebril, applied linguistics -- worked diligently with a representative group of AUC faculty and staff members in developing the self-study report and providing evidence of AUC’s compliance with NAQAAE accreditation standards. This successful reaffirmation process was under the guidance and leadership of Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman in coordination with AUC Counselor Ashraf Hatem. The process concluded with a three-day visit to AUC’s campus by a committee of experts in higher education in order to observe AUC’s congruence with its self-study and meet with representatives from different constituents and stakeholders. The committee provided a thorough report, which included recommendations for areas within the University that can be further enhanced.

“The self-assessment process ensures, as we move into the future, that we continuously improve and advance the University,” explained Heba Fathelbab (MA ‘10), senior director of assessment and accreditation at the Office of Strategy Management and Institutional Effectiveness. “The reaffirmation of accreditation process is a lot of hard work, but it is an excellent way to ensure that AUC remains relevant and provides a unique educational experience for its students.”

AUC's faculty members have been hard at work trying to navigate the challenges that come with shifting to online instruction. News@AUC spoke to some faculty members to learn about their experiences so far and what they've been doing to adapt to the changes. Here's what they had to say: 

Carie Forden, professor, Department of Psychology

"I teach social psychology, which is very relevant to the current situation, as we are covering topics such as stress, conformity and group behavior. Instead of doing narrated PowerPoints, my husband and I are turning the course material into a podcast, complete with theme music, advertisements and recommendations. My husband is the host who is asking the questions, and I'm the expert guest. He's a good listener and very curious about things, so it works well. It's been a lot of fun. Last week's podcast on stress included a discussion of how to deal with the stress of coronavirus and quarantine and a commercial for meditating while washing your hands."

Tarek Selim '92, '95, professor, Department of Economics

"It was a bit frustrating in the beginning, but now, many faculty actually like it! The challenge for me, and I guess for the whole of AUC as an institution, will be fairness in the online grading system: how to make sure that the inputs received online are indeed the effort of the particular student being assessed and how to make online grading fair for all. This is a fundamental challenge and is an ethical issue and has accreditation requirements as well. Another challenge is the 'time to access' online materials for students if the server/cloud does not have enough capacity in peak times."

On the soft side of things, I received many comics relating AUC's online education to Egyptian cinema/ famous plays."

Rasha Abdulla '92, '96, professor and graduate director, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication:

"My first experience was really good. I taught the class live on Zoom, and a recording is also available online. Almost all the students 'showed up,' and we only had a couple missing. I think it went better than we all expected. The students were wonderful and very interactive. I had done my homework on all the little perks that Zoom has to offer. I used a PowerPoint presentation and shared it with them on the screen, paused to invite questions or comments every once in a while and asked their impressions at the beginning and at the end of the class. I think we were all pretty happy with the experience."

Michael Reimer, associate professor, Department of History 

"Yes, it has been a big challenge. The tasks involved seem endless, and I find it hard to lecture without a class in front of me. However, the positive aspect of online teaching is that I am in more frequent contact with some students who rarely participated in class discussion, but who are now are asking questions and participating in online discussions. Also, because I am setting smaller writing assignments rather than essay examinations, students write more frequently in response to the assigned readings, which I hope will stimulate their understanding of these texts. In the future, even in normal face-to-face instruction, I plan to continue to use online discussion forums to encourage the quieter students to participate."

Shahira Fahmy, professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

"So far, I've taught two online classes: one undergraduate class on Blackboard and the second class was on Zoom for graduate students. My graduate class on Zoom went really well. The students were engaged and very interactive that ironically it almost felt like we could communicate better with each other online than face-to-face.  My undergraduate class still needs some adjustments to get the students more involved and actively engaged in the learning process. I understand that students, and undergraduate students specifically, might feel anxious and apprehensive about the process. I want them to know that these feelings are normal. No one anticipated the current situation, but I think we will all learn from this experience and, in the end, hopefully find some joy in the process."

Hassan Azzazy, professor, Department of Chemistry

"A powerful feature of Panopto is that it enables students to easily locate any topic in a lecture and replay the relevant slides and voice. It also enables students to have permanent records of videotaped lectures. On the other hand, I have used a combination of Notepad and Screen Recorder on my cell phone (with a stylus) to hand write explanations of specific topics or solve exercises as I do on whiteboards in classrooms, then posted links to these videos on Blackboard." 

Adel El Adawy, assistant professor, Middle East Studies Center

"Online teaching was a new experience for me. I hadn't done it before so I didn't know how it will go, but I think after receiving training during spring break and having one week of experience, it went pretty well. I would say my classroom experience has not really changed from face-to-face teaching and now online teaching because most of my classes are very small — graduate seminars, graduate students — so I've decided to use the software Zoom, which actually really gives a very similar experience, as if you are sitting face-to-face in class. We’ll see how the rest of the semester will go, but I think, after one week, I am very satisfied and I think my students are as well."

Ayman Ismail '95, '97, associate professor, Department of Management

"I’ve done a lot of online teaching before, but moving a complete undergraduate course online is a new adventure. So far, it has worked out well. We are holding online discussion sessions using interactive tools, video cases and alternative assessment methods. Students are not only learning the course material, but also new ways of working together, innovating and collaborating."

Khaled Tarabieh, assistant professor, Department of Architecture

"I have been involved in online instruction at AUC during the past five years part of the ProGreen Diploma for Green Technologies where I, along with other professionals in Egypt and Lebanon, taught sustainable design and green technology. In the past two years, the AUC state-of-the-art communication technologies allowed us to engage in virtual teaching with the University of Arizona, creating virtual classrooms to teach Sustainable Architecture. This experience allowed me a smooth transition into fully online teaching in the past week. No challenges were observed except for the daily interaction with the campus community faculty, staff and students, all of which I miss deeply. Our successful transition to online learning shows how our investment over the past few years in infrastructure and online learning has paid off.  I truly believe this situation has been a test of resilience and sustainability of our institution of the future, a test we have fortunately passed with flying colors."

Michael Gibson, senior instructor, Department of Rhetoric and Composition

"Monday the class met on google hangouts. It was ok. Today I used Zoom. It went great.  I really like the online learning and am staying in touch through the week both on google hangout chat and email. I'm enjoying it. The only downside is not being physically together. Some of my students say they like it better because it's more comfortable, convenient, and efficient, and we're actually communicating more often (in various ways) and more thoroughly."

Various sectors of society are feeling the effects of the global COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, most noticeably education and health, but world economies might be taking the hardest hit.

“The greatest economic repercussions due to the coronavirus pandemic are the interruption and sudden freeze of economic activities without a definite horizon for returning back to normal,” said Ahmed El Safty, associate professor of practice in the Department of Economics. “The uncertainty resulting from this sudden stop is causing lots of...panic in the international markets and is reflected in the continuous large losses in financial markets worldwide.” 

And the impact is far more than just global. National economies are taking blows from the “sudden freeze” that El Safty mentioned, referring to different domestic policies implemented to slow down the spread of the virus: curfews, restaurant closures, school and university suspensions, limited working hours, halts on international and domestic travel and more. 

“In Egypt, the tourism sector is the most negatively affected,” said Tarek Selim, professor of economics and global expert council at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Selim added that even though the economic plan introduced by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi earlier this week will partially heal negative impacts, it will only work if the pandemic lasts for a couple more weeks or months. The longer it goes on, the more severely impacted industries will be.

 “Other sectors such as transport, retail, cafes, cinemas, restaurants and labor-based assembly businesses as well will be gravely affected much more than what they already have accrued," noted Selim.

Some of Egypt's other businesses, however, will find this as a time to grow and innovate their existing technologies, Selim said.

"IT and digital business and capital-intensive industries (which require less people on board) can actually gain from this," Selim said. "This also includes the IT and advertising markets, online application demands for education, and online workflow digital systems." However, he emphasized that any sort of gain will only last for the short term.

Matters beyond Egypt’s borders also play a large role, as the slowdown of international trade, the reversing of foreign portfolio investment and the drop in oil prices and economic activities in the Gulf are all posing setbacks for Egypt, according to El Safty. 

The Egyptian government laid out a EGP 100 billion plan to combat the economic impact of COVID-19. What does that plan look like?

Selim listed a number of provisions, including a stimulus package for tourism and travel companies, tax payment extensions, loan interest reductions and a stock market stimulus package, among others.

“These measures are good and are being seen as logical from an economic standpoint,” he said. “Will they completely remove all negative consequences of the coronavirus on the economy? Not likely. Yet, this is still okay, since it is not the role of government to mother-feed the economy and neutralize all risks completely.”

El Safty said that many of the measures are meant to help private enterprises “remain solvent for the near future.” However, he added, “a long lasting solution will only be feasible when the coronavirus emergency ends and economic activities return back to normal.”

And these effects are mirrored throughout the world, albeit the impact in each country relies heavily on the dominant industry type.

“Countries that rely less on services and tourism are expected to have an impact that is less severe,” Selim said. “Egypt's people-centric service industries constitute a large chunk of Egypt's GDP, since services include hotels and tourism, transport, entertainment and others.”

It may seem like the state of the economy is out of individual citizens' control, but El Safty said that people can actually play a large part in helping get things back to normal. 

"Individuals can combat the economic setbacks by basically following the advice of working from home, social distancing and self quarantine if needed," he said. "The stricter they follow these rules, the sooner we can return back to normal."

And as for the situation to settle down and economic activity to start up again until it gets back to normal, both Selim and El Safty said it's difficult — almost impossible — to tell. But our best bet for speeding up the process for now is staying home, staying safe and flattening the curve. 

With online classes starting Sunday, AUCTV interviewed Vice President for Digital Transformation Ayman Abdellatif on how his team has been working hard to make sure the process runs smoothly and how students and faculty members should utilize the IT Help Desk when running into challenges. Watch the full interview.