• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Egypt Travel Blog

  • Cities & Regions
    • Cairo
    • Giza
    • Luxor
    • Aswan
    • Abu Simbel
    • Alexandria
    • The Red Sea
    • Siwa
  • The Sites
    • The Pyramids & Sphinx
    • Downtown Cairo Sites
    • Luxor Sites
    • Aswan Sites
    • Abu Simbel
    • Alexandria Sites
    • Edfu
    • Kom Ombo
    • Abydos
    • Dendera
    • Siwa
  • Museums
    • All Cairo Area Museums
    • Old Egyptian Museum
    • Grand Egyptian Museum
    • National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
    • Abdeen Palace Museum
    • Royal Carriages Museum
    • Manial Palace Museum
    • Nubian Museum
    • Sharm el-Sheikh Museum 
  • Food & Dining
  • Hotel Reviews
    • Greater Cairo Hotels
    • Luxor Hotels
    • Red Sea Hotels
    • Alexandria Hotels
  • Travel Advice
  • Trips
  • News
  • The Podcast

The American University in Cairo

February 13, 2013 by Egypt Travel Blog

Many visitors to Egypt might be surprised to learn that one of Egypt’s leading educational institutions – and the top-ranked institution of higher learning in the country – is actually an American university, or rather The American University in Cairo. AUC, as it is known, was founded in 1919 by the Presbyterian Church’s mission to Egypt, but the school quickly became a leading center for American style liberal style education in the region. Today AUC boasts more than 6,800 students, over 400 full-time and 350 part-time faculty, and two campuses.

The old campus of AUC is located in the heart of Cairo and adjacent to the city’s famous center of political expression – Tahrir Square. The Tahrir campus was built within and around the Khairy Pasha Palace and now spans that original property plus several additional city blocks. Run of to the campus is usually restricted to students, faculty, staff, and those with official business at the university, but most of the interesting architecture can be viewed from outside of the campus’s high walls and fences. A small but newly renovated retail bookstore for AUC Press is located on the campus and is usually accessible to non-university visitors. However, opening days and hours have varied greatly in recent years because of the frequent volatility in the vicinity of the campus and Tahrir Square.

The new campus of AUC is located about 45 minutes east of downtown Cairo and the old campus, out in a more modern suburban development known as New Cairo. This sprawling new 260-acre campus opened in 2008 and features a well blended combination of traditional Arab and modern architectural and decorative designs and styles.

The modern new campus is very unlike any other place in Egypt, and more resembles a college campus in the United States with an Arab flair. In addition to classroom buildings, sports stadiums, a gymnasium, a library, and more, the campus also includes several new residence halls for students, although most Egyptian students choose to live at home and commute to classes.

AUC has been a popular study abroad destination for American, European, and Asian university students for decades. Most of these year abroad students elect to live on campus, either in one of the modern dorms on the new campus out in New Cairo or in the old international student residence on the island of Zamalek in the middle of the Nile River in downtown Cairo. For these students, AUC offers a wide variety of Arabic language courses as well as an array of regular undergraduate and graduate classes focused on Middle Eastern topics and themes. The school is accredited both in Egypt and in the United States, so classes transfer more easily back into U.S. degree programs than may be the case with other foreign institutions.

As a visitor to Egypt, AUC is at least worth a pass-by and a few photos of or in front of the iconic facade of the old campus’s original building overlooking Tahrir Square. And if you find yourself out in New Cairo and can talk your way onto the property for a short visit, the new campus is quite a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle of the rest of Egypt.

Filed Under: Cairo, Culture, Downtown Cairo Sites, Neat Stuff

Other Neat Stuff

The Mystery of King Tut’s “Other Worldly” Burial Dagger Finally Solved

Although the entire field of Egyptology is only about 200 years old, dating back to the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone and the unlocking of the ancient hieroglyphic script in which the civilization’s history was recorded, the study of ancient Egyptian history and artifacts is still accelerating at an astonishing pace. With the application of […]

New archaeological finds in Egypt continue to astonish

Important discoveries out of Egypt have again been flooding the global news as archaeologists continue to explore beneath the sands of the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo, which is home to temples, burial grounds, and pyramids of the once-mighty ancient empire. Over the last year, researchers have unearthed at least 210 sarcophagi not touched since their burial two millennia ago, including the coffin of Queen Neit, […]

More Unsealed Mummies Discovered at Saqqara

If you’ve ever wandered around the rocky grounds of the Saqqara royal necropolis, the site of the Pharaoh Djoser’s famous Step Pyramid just south of the most famous pyramids at Giza, you’ve likely walked above hundreds of undiscovered treasures, mummies, and noble tombs still hidden in the ground beneath your feet. Frequent readers of the […]

Step Pyramid Interior Reopens to the Public

The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Sakkara is one of the most unique pyramids in Egypt and the oldest pyramid still standing anywhere in the world. While most of the other famous pyramids nearby at Giza and Dashur have been generally open for the public to go inside of them to explore the narrow passageways […]

Mummies on the Move

There have been quite a few recent developments about mummies in Egypt lately, including the largest discovery of mummies in over a century near Luxor, which was followed by the eruption of a minor a controversy over where those mummies will now be housed (national officials prefer the new Grand Egyptian Museum while local Luxor […]

Pet Mummies

We all know that the ancient Egyptians mummified the dead bodies of their loved ones with elaborate rituals and scientific rigor, whether they were a revered pharaoh or, if non-royal Egyptians could afford it, a beloved family member. But even in modern times, we can understand that human love and affection extend beyond just our […]

New Major Mummy Discovery Unveiled in Luxor

The largest new discovery of ancient Egyptian mummies in over a century has been revealed to the public by Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities at a ceremony in the southern city of Luxor, resting place to hundreds of ancient pharaohs, other royalty, high court officials, and evidently more middle class folks as well. The discovery, which […]

New Discovery Makes Pharaohs Look Modern, Sort Of

A team of archaeologists work in northern Egypt have discovered the site of an ancient settlement that makes even the Pharaohs and the Pyramids look young, relatively speaking. The discovery was made in the town of Tel el-Samara, which is located north of Cairo in the fertile Nile Delta region. Egypt’s most famous pyramids at […]

Tracing the Physical Legacy of Cleopatra

On this year’s International Women’s Day today, Egypt Travel Blog would like to pay homage to one of ancient Egypt’s most famous figures and a woman whose life and legacy are worthy of remembrance. Cleopatra is one of the most famous women in all of human history. She was a beloved queen of an ancient […]

New Discoveries

One of the amazing things about Egypt is that the entire country is still an active archaeological site. With over five thousand years of history under its sands, the slice that we know about and have uncovered so far is by no means all there is to be discovered. When you visit the Pyramids couples, […]

Ancient Knowledge and Modern Remembrance

It’s National Library Week in the United States, so it’s as good of a time as any to talk about one of the world’s most famous libraries – the ancient Library of Alexandria. After the death of Alexander the Great and the founding of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt, the Library of Alexandria was created […]

Visiting the Pyramids of Giza

Egypt’s most popular historical site, and one of the most well known the world over, is of course the Pyramids, the most famous of which are located just outside of Cairo. The greater Cairo area is a sprawling metropolis of nearly 20 million people spread out over dozens of suburbs on both sides of the […]

Luxor Temple

Despite its prominent name, Luxor Temple is actually the second most famous temple in Luxor behind the much larger and greater Temple of Karnak just down the road. However, Luxor Temple has several unique features of its own that merit a visit and some independent attention. The first and most obvious aspect of Luxor Temple […]

The Valley of the Queens

The Valley of the Queens in the area of Luxor is a lesser visited royal necropolis in which various family members of several dynasties of pharaohs were laid to rest. As the name suggests, many queens were buried here in elaborate tombs befitting their status and wealth, but many princesses and even princes had dedicated […]

World’s Oldest Haute Couture

Anyone a fan of vintage fashion? How about 5000 year old couture? One of the neat things about Egypt is that its advanced civilization was good at both recording and preserving its own history. Unlike most other of the world’s great ancient civilizations whose moist climates caused the disintegration of its remnants thousands of years […]

Primary Sidebar

Check out our hit podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

Join our “Egypt Insider” email list!

Loading

Beware – Scams, Taboos, Faux Pas, & Other Crazy Stuff

“Dr.” Sherif and the Great Papyrus “Institute” Scam

All About Camels… and the Pyramids Camel Scam

What NOT to Wear in Egypt

Cairo’s Chaotic Traffic

Taking the Right Type of Taxi in Cairo & Giza

The Super Aggressive “Taxi Jumpers” at the Giza Pyramids

Discoveries, Artifacts, and Unique Takes on Egyptian History

The Mystery of King Tut’s “Other Worldly” Burial Dagger Finally Solved

New archaeological finds in Egypt continue to astonish

More Unsealed Mummies Discovered at Saqqara

Step Pyramid Interior Reopens to the Public

Mummies on the Move

Pet Mummies

New Major Mummy Discovery Unveiled in Luxor

New Discovery Makes Pharaohs Look Modern, Sort Of

Egypt Travel Blog and the Egypt Travel Blog Podcast are produced in partnership with Jetset.Ninja and Egypt Elite.
. .