Cairo University and the Making of Modern Egypt

Donald Malcolm Reid

Cambridge University Press, Jul 4, 2002 - History - 316 pages

Cairo University has been crucially important in shaping the national life of twentieth-century Egypt. It has educated much of the political, professional and cultural elite; doctors and lawyers, novelists and philosophers, bankers and prime ministers have all studied there. Founded in 1908 and for many years competing only with the religious al-Azhar, the European-inspired Cairo University quickly became the prime indigenous model for other state universities in the region and its influence has spread even beyond the Arab world. Professor Reid has drawn on university archives hitherto untapped by Western scholars and on a wide range of other Arabic and Western sources. He explains the university's part in the national quest for independence from Britain, in the perennial tension between secular and religious world views, and in the push for a more egalitarian society. Nasser and Sadat, Kings Fuad and Faruq, nationalist hero Saad Zaghlul and Nobel Prize winner Najib Mahfuz, all feature prominently in this fascinating history of Egypt's most important modern educational institution.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• The private university 19081919: 9
• Antecedents: 11
• Implementing the plan: 27
• Challenges and adjustments: 44
• The university and the liberal ideal 19191950: 69
• The transition to a state university: 71
• Rival imperialisms and Egyptianization: 87
• Issues of equity a university for whom?: 103
• The university and politics 19301950: 120
• The issue of religion: 139
• In Nassers shadow 19501967: 157
• The end of the old regime: 159
• Quality quantity and careers: 174
• Mobilizing the university?: 189
• The university since Nasser: 213
• The open door and the Islamist challenge: 215
• Conclusion and prospect: 231
• Notes: 235
• Select bibliography: 272
• Index: 283

About the author

Donald Malcolm Reid is Professor of History at Georgia StateDonald Malcolm Reid is Professor of History at Georgia State University and author of "Cairo University and the Making o University and author of "Cairo University and the Making of Modern Egypt "(1990), "Lawyers and Politics in the Arab Wof Modern Egypt "(1990), "Lawyers and Politics in the Arab World, 1880-1960 "(1981), and "The Odyssey of Farah Antun: A Srld, 1880-1960 "(1981), and "The Odyssey of Farah Antun: A Syrian Christian's Quest for Secularism "(1975). yrian Christian's Quest for Secularism "(1975).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Cairo University and the Making of Modern Egypt; Volume 23 of Cambridge Middle East Library
• Author: Donald Malcolm Reid
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002
• ISBN: 0521894336, 9780521894333
• Length: 316 pages
• Subjects: Education / Higher; History / Asia / General; History / Middle East / General; History / Modern / 20th Century