On the eve of French national day and for the second consecutive year the French University in Egypt (UFE) won the national SIFE competition for Egypt (Students In Free Enterprise). 19 public and private universities took part in the competition and the UFE won, ahead of Assiut University (2nd), Misr International University (MIU, 3rd) and the German University in Cairo (GUC, finalist). The UFE will represent Egyptian Universities at the SIFE world cup which take this autumn in Germany (Berlin).
The SIFE competition was born in the United States in the 70s and went international 20 years later. It encourages student micro-initiatives which aim at providing solutions which rest on private initiative and problem solving through the inclusion of underprivileged communities into a free market economy framework.
The judging committee, made up of high ranking executives and heads of companies, rewarded the diversity and the originality of the SIFE UFE student initiatives. These projects included assisting the bedouins of an oasis in establishing distribution channels for their products (Al-Wahat Al-Bahareya), the development of biogas in an underprivileged island (El Warraq), the dynamisation of a network of bookshops in the historical district of Soor El-Azbakia, assistance in finding profitable uses for rice straw, which contributes to the fight against the health scourge of the black cloud, due to the burning of rice straw in the fields.
If this trilingual University, but predominantly francophone, University won this English speaking competition, this is largely due to the systematic project oriented educational framework put into place by the professors of this Univerosty. The SIFE UFE team was advised by Nicolas Antheaume [1], Myriam Raymond [2], and Amr Osman [3]. It obtained the financial support of many companies and partners out of which Carrefour et NSGB deserve a special mention.
Contact : Jean Pierre Faugère, vice president
(00 2)0 17 111 89 49
jean-pierre.faugere ufe.edu.eg
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