These offices are part of the university’s “International Network University” development strategy, which won it funding in the German universities Excellence Initiative. The Cairo Office will be responsible for the Middle East and North Africa, serving as the first point of contact for students and scholars from the region and supporting and coordinating exchange between Freie Universität and its partner universities in the region.
At the official opening ceremony, the director of the Center for International Cooperation of Freie Universität, Dorothea Rüland, welcomed senior representatives of the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, the German ambassador in Cairo, Michael Bock, and the director of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Office in Cairo, Christian Hülshörster. In addition, well-known representatives of Egyptian universities and research institutes and of German institutions in the region attended.
The keynote address was given by Gudrun Krämer, director of the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies.
The Cairo Office is headed by Florian Kohstall, a graduate of Freie Universität Berlin in the Department of Political Science. Kohstall, 36, completed his doctorate on the educational system in Egypt and Morocco and extended his knowledge through several years living in different Arab countries.