Due to its
geography and political standing, Egypt has interacted with the wider world
throughout its long history. In taking its place on the international stage, it
has produced honored statesmen and Nobel laureates. It has provided numerous
global public servants, including a secretary general of the United Nations and
a director general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
With such
a legacy in mind, and with a wary eye on the complex challenges facing Egypt
and the Middle East, the American University in Cairo last year established the
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) as the first institution of
its kind in the region. GAPP’s mission is to prepare students to join the next
generation of policy makers and policy shapers, by providing them with the
multidisciplinary skills and global perspectives available in the school’s
eight academic departments and research centers.
At GAPP’s
inauguration, Dean Nabil Fahmy addressed the gravity of the policy challenges
ahead when he contrasted human achievements like space exploration and disease
eradication with human failures such as widespread poverty and nuclear
proliferation.
“Passivism
and apathy are not options or choices that we can afford or condone,” Fahmy
warned. “Nor can the world community respond appropriately if it does not
empower itself. It is time here and now to embrace the policies that will allow
our collective genius to substitute and contain the avaricious greed that has
often put us on the road toward self-destruction.”
With the establishment of GAPP, he concluded, “We are determined to make a
difference.”
Fahmy’s
appointment as founding dean perhaps represents the imperative of educating
future practitioners as well as theorists. He himself attended AUC, earning a
Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics in 1974 and a Master of
Arts degree in management in 1976. Initially inclined to enter international
banking after graduation, he turned to public service instead. He took up his
current academic post coming from a distinguished career in Egypt’s foreign
ministry, having served most recently as ambassador to the United States
between 1999 and 2008 and as Egyptian envoy to Japan before that. In his
numerous diplomatic assignments, including positions with Egypt’s United
Nations mission, he often focused on security and arms control issues. He is
the nonresident chair of the Middle East Nonproliferation Project of the James
Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International
Studies.
In taking
on its mission, GAPP brings together the resources of three existing
departments (Journalism and Mass Communication, Public Policy and
Administration, and Law) and five research centers (the Cynthia Nelson
Institute for Gender and Women Studies, the Center for Migration and Refugee
Studies, the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research, the
Middle East Studies Center, and the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz
al-Saud Center for American Studies and Research).
Together,
these offer students a rich mix of policy studies. The school’s
formation did not alter core curricula, but its departments and research
centers were directed to instill seven fundamental competencies in their
existing programs: critical analytical skills, public policy orientation, a
global perspective, multi- and interdisciplinary experience, quality research
skills, professional experience, and effective communication skills.
With its
dynamic approach and global perspective, GAPP is intent on establishing
strategic partnerships with other institutions
around the world. These already
include ties with the Dubai School of Government (United Arab Emirates); the
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (Japan); the Lee Kuan Yew School
of Public Policy (Singapore); the Elliott School of International Affairs and
the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration (both at
George Washington University), and the Monterey Institute of International
Studies (Middlebury College) in the U.S.; the Danish School of Media and
Journalism (Århus, Denmark); and the Central Agency for Organization and
Administration in Egypt.
A vital
part of GAPP’s mission is its Executive Education Program, which is providing
specialized management, communications, and analytical training for public
officials in Egypt and throughout the region.
To further
promote a public role, and to raise students’ awareness of public policy
issues, Fahmy has undertaken several other initiatives as well. One of them is
the creation of the Cairo Review of Global Affairs, GAPP’s quarterly policy
journal.
Another is
the launch of the Public Policy Lecture Series, which enables AUC students and
Egyptians at large to hear the views of local and international figures from
various fields. The series has played an especially important role since Egypt’s
January 25 revolution. In public seminars at the AUC downtown campus, steps away from
Tahrir Square, GAPP has brought together legal experts and leading politicians
to debate critical issues
facing Egypt’s transition to democracy, such as changes in the constitution and
the formation of new political parties. The series kicked off last year with a
speech on Turkish policy in the Middle East by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu, who attended AUC in the 1980s. Other earlier speakers in the series
have included former UN under-secretary general Lakhdar Brahimi, French
diplomat and author Eric Rouleau, and Academy Award-winning film director Costa
Gavras.
In AUC’s
ninety-two-year history, it has awarded degrees to more than twenty-five thousand
students, many of whom went on to make significant contributions to public
service. AUC’s establishment of the first school in the region dedicated to
providing education and training in public policy comes at a particularly
fitting moment, when political transformation is presenting the Middle East
with new challenges and opportunities. “We are making the direct and invaluable
link between theory and practice,” says Associate Dean Laila El Baradei: “We
want our students to have a real impact on the policies of tomorrow.”