On the evening of December 14, the reporter of Student News Agency, Pheles, interviewed Benha University delegation, who was participating in the 2016 Sino-Egyptian Forum for Joint Research in Agricultural Science and Technology, on the issue of mutual friendship and the prospects of two universities’ cooperation.
Reporter:Welcome to Huazhong Agricultural University! And can you give us a brief introduction to Benha University?
Hazem Abdelnabby:Benha University is a comprehensive public university, which is one of the best universities in Egypt, ranked fourth in the country. The construction of discipline in Benha University is diverse, including Pharmacy, Art, Agronomy, Agriculture, Engineering, etc. As the country's largest university, Benha University has more than 80 thousand students and number of staff reaches more than 3000. The beautiful campus is situated in Egyptian City of Benha which is located in the southern part of the Nile Delta with good weather conditions and dense population.
Reporter:What aspects do you think Benha University and Huazhong Agricultural University in the future can cooperate in?
Osama E.A. Ibrahim:We have carried out exchange students program. The professors of both universities have many academic exchanges in engineering, agriculture and other relevant subjects. Benha University also has cooperation with universities in other countries. When it comes to the cooperation with China’s universities, we hope to strengthen the communication and cooperation. There are 1800 students in the engineering college in Huazhong Agricultural University, but only 4 to 5 are Egyptian students who are studying for their doctoral degree there, so there is much room for development. It is very necessary to strengthen the interaction between the two universities.
Reporter:As you know, our university has 5 exchange students who have paid a visit to your school in the first half year of 2016. After returning to school, they said, Benha University and Huazhong Agricultural University had a lot of similarities. I wonder whether you have the similar feeling.
Mohamed E.S. Abosalem:Yes, thanks for their positive comments. I think the reasons are as follows: First of all, people from we two countries have compassion and warm heart, so we can understand each other well. Secondly, we have a lot in common in our teaching style, laboratory construction and discipline construction. More than 90% academic settings are similar. We pay this visit to China in order to learn the frontiers as well as the advanced ideas. Of course, we also take a lot of new ideas to discuss with the counterparts of your university.
Also, I’d like to say, before I came to china, I liked China; however, after coming here, I think I fall in love with China.
Reporter:What’s the plan of Egyptian government on its own agricultural development?
Hazem Abdelnabby:As we all know, Egypt used to be a large agricultural country; however, it has ever neglected agricultural development for a period of time now that it kept promoting industrialization. And now, the Egyptian government proposed policies to attach importance to the development of agriculture, because only the adequate supply of agricultural products can guarantee to avoid the food famine caused by population expansion. To promote the development of modern agricultural science and technology and support modern agricultural industry is a major strategy taken by the Egyptian government.
Reporter: This year, during Chairman Xi's successful visit to Egypt, the leaders of two sides both agreed on promoting the “One Belt and One Road Initiative" strategy together. Does the strategy have a certain impact on your school?
Hazem Abdelnabby:“One Belt One Road" strategy, I think, will not only influence our University or Egypt alone, but also the entire world, for the strategy has changed the overall economic development, and it will make great changes to the economic development in the future. "One Belt One Road" will connect the eastern world with the western world together, or at least Africa, Europe and Asia together. It will benefit many countries and deepen the cooperation among them. For example, China’s goods can be sold to all corners of the world. It will make a tremendous difference, I believe.
Benha University, as a member of “One Belt” University Union and its Executive Committee, conducts the cooperation with Huazhong Agricultural University not only in response to the strategy, but also to promote the strategy. This forum is actually facilitated by the strategy.
Reporter:According to the bilateral cooperation agreement, our school will continue to send exchange students to Benha University for further study in the future. Do you have any suggestions for students who are going to study in your university?
Hazem Abdelnabby:Huazhong Agricultural University’s students visited our school in April this year, and studied for two weeks in Egypt. This is a very pleasant experience. It was said that they took more than 3 thousand photos and made friends whom they remained contact with after the return. I suggest that foreign students should communicate with students who visited Egypt before, so as to learn about their experience and feelings. There is a Chinese student studying Arabic language in our school. Although he is not from Huazhong Agricultural University, students from China can still learn something from him.
(By Yuan Yuxin)
