Australian students go on to the world’s great English language and other international universities and this is what many Egyptian and international parents want for their children.

Australian education is “tied for second”. Through various measures, only Finland’s students score higher on standardised tests than Australia’s students. We are tied for second with seven other nations, including Canada, New Zealand and the UK. This speaks well for Australian teachers and Australian curricula so we are bringing both to Egypt.

ASC is a “small class size” school. There will be one teacher for about every 10 students and this “10 to 1” or perhaps “12 to 1” student to teacher ratio shall be continued into upper elementary and secondary as those Years are added.

Language is a primary emphasis for the early years with preschool preparing Egyptian students for the English language primary years and preparing international preschool students in English or Arabic, all preschool and early primary students being tutored in both English and Arabic according to individual needs.

We expect to graduate our first Year 12s in 2019 and by that time a full suite of high school options will be in place allowing students to prepare for medical, law, engineering, business, public service and other sorts of university education.

We plan an eventual enrolment of 1200-1500 students, depending on parents’ preferences, making the school large enough to provide a full range of university entrance courses but small enough to maintain a high standard of individual service to our students and their parents

Arabic and Islamic education shall be part of the curriculum from the primary through the secondary years.

I am personally very pleased to be opening our Australian school at this time in Egyptian history. Egypt is experiencing rapid changes and our aim is to prepare students for the vibrant Middle Eastern / Mediterranean economy that is resulting.

I first came to Cairo in 1971 and shall never forget the kindness of the Talat Harb hotel owner who called in his own doctor to care for my sick travelling companion. The hotel owner was old then so now he is gone and I can’t go down to Talat Harb and thank him. But I learned from him the generosity of the Egyptian heart and see it in the life of Cairo’s people today as they stream their youth into Egyptian and international futures.

I have been a bit surprised and continually energised by becoming part of Egypt’s expanding internationalisation through ASC. I am very happy to be part of this addition to the Egyptian-Australian relationship. I am proud to have found friends in Afifi Selim and Jo Hillman and embark on this adventure. If you wonder who the Managing Director of the Australian School of Cairo might be, I can tell you he is a man who works to be as generous towards Cairo’s youth as the old hotelier in 1971.

I also wish to mention what a pleasure it has been to develop so many contacts through my ASC work with the Egyptian-Australian community in Cairo. As an American-Australian I am proud to say Australian gave them the same things it gave to me - education and opportunity.

To the parents, teachers, students and to the other members of the board of directors I am delighted to say, “I am at your service”.

Jeff Marck PhD (Linguistics, Australian National University)
Managing Director
Australian School of Cairo

+2-0168-407-394

welcome@australianschoolcairo.org
+2-02-3385-5350 messages