Egypt's Higher Education Ministry has told local universities to cover costs for students on US-funded scholarships after President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on foreign aid.
The order suspends all foreign assistance, apart from humanitarian food programmes and military assistance to Israel and Egypt, for 90 days pending a review of US aid programmes.
The move will affect 1,077 Egyptian undergraduate students in public, private and non-profit universities who received scholarships from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), including 200 at the American University in Cairo (AUC), Higher Education Ministry spokesman Adel Abdel Ghaffar told The National.
Seven Egyptian graduate students studying in the US are also affected.
The US agency informed the scholarship recipients on Saturday that its programme was being suspended for 90 days, leading to panic and an outcry on social media.
In response, Egypt's Supreme Council of Universities, a state agency, held an emergency meeting led by Higher Education Minister Ayman Ashour on Tuesday night.
Mr Ashour announced that each university would commit to covering all tuition fees and support that USAID had been providing until the end of the second term.
His ministry said that the students would not be harmed and that universities would “fully cover the scholarships” whether they were for tuition fees or housing. It called on students and their parents not to be swayed by rumours and reassured them about their future.
Mr Abdel Ghaffar dismissed reports on social media that AUC students had been forcibly removed from their residences as “mere rumours”.
However, Mohamed Yousry, 24, a computer science student at the state-run Alexandria University who received a USAID scholarship to study at the prestigious and much more expensive AUC, told The National that he and many of his classmates had received an email on Saturday from university administrators saying that they would not be housed or allowed to attend classes there for 90 days or until further notice.
“We had to pack our things very quickly and organise our own transport to our home provinces. I returned to Alexandria, which wasn't very hard but some of my colleagues from Aswan and Upper Egypt had to make much longer journeys,” Mr Yousry said.
“I am finishing up my degree by June but there are students who have just started their scholarship programmes, so even if the universities cover the costs for the next 90 days, who knows if they will continue to do so if the US decides to defund these programmes.”
The suspension of US aid programmes stoked already seething anger towards Israel among Egypt’s youth, with many students seeing it as a move to pressure Egypt to allow in Palestinians displaced by the Gaza war.
Mr Trump on Saturday suggested that Jordan and Egypt could take in about 1.5 million Gazans left homeless by Israel's destructive military campaign in the enclave, either for the short-term or permanently. Both Jordan and Egypt quickly rejected the idea.
Egypt has been one of the largest recipients of US aid since the signing in 1978 of the Camp David Accords by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin under the guidance of US president Jimmy Carter.
The deal brought an end to more than 30 years of Egyptian-Israeli hostilities and helped the country’s passage into the neoliberal global economy.
As part of the agreement, the US committed to providing substantial economic and military aid to both Egypt and Israel. Since the signing of the peace treaty, Egypt has received US aid amounting to more than $30 billion, in addition to $1.3 billion in military aid annually. The assistance has been a key component of the US-Egypt relationship and is viewed as an important means of maintaining the stability of American interests in the region.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees
Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme
Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks
Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets
Cryopreservation: A timeline
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- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
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Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
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THE SPECS
Engine: 4.0L twin-turbo V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 571hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,000-4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L/100km
Price, base: from Dh571,000
On sale: this week
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The UAE's journey to space
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814