The sports scholarship landscape in Egypt: While strong academic performance is a fixture of acceptance requirements in educational institutions, athletic achievements among K-12 students also provide a path forward in the academic field, with similar financial perks. Sports scholarships geared towards top-performing athletes — a fixture of universities in countries such as the US and Canada — have also become available at several private universities in Egypt. Today, we give a rundown of the scholarships and financial support packages available for young athletes.

Athletes can get a full ride at AUC: Starting off with one of the top-ranked academic institutions in Egypt, the American University in Cairo offers a reduction of up to USD 10k per semester for students — the exact value is calculated and evaluated on an individual basis , according to AUC’s policy. Students should have participated in one of the sports organized by the Egyptian University Sports Federation (EUSF), or any of the Olympic games. Maintaining the sports scholarship per academic year depends on the student’s performance and athletic activities and results during each year.

Wadi Degla offers a full scholarship at AUC for student athletes: Wadi Degla recently launched a scholarship to “promote the notion that academic and athletic excellence can be achieved hand in hand.” The program targets Egyptian student athletes who manage to achieve academic excellence while excelling in soccer, squash, swimming, basketball, or track & field. The scholarship sponsors one student athlete at a time: covering the full tuition fees up until the student graduates, and then it is re-offered to another student athlete.

International-level athletes can get scholarships of up to 100% at GUC: The German University in Cairo offers scholarships for sport achievements at international levels. The scholarship size “is determined by the rank of student, semester and study module student belongs to.” Scholarship recipients need to maintain an overall GPA of no less than 3.00 or they risk losing the scholarship in the following year.

The BUE offers partial scholarships for student athletes: International-level athletes can get tuition reductions of 30-50% based on the medals they received, while national-level athletes can get scholarships ranging between 20-40%. All scholarships are awarded for the first year only, then re-assessed at the beginning of every academic year based on the student’s achievements during the previous year.

FUE offers sports achievement scholarships: Future University in Egypt offers scholarships for students who have earned championship titles at an international, African, or local sports competition. Eligible students must submit the championship certificate, authenticated by the Supreme Council of Sports.

Individual athletes who compete internationally get the all-star treatment at UofCanada: The Universities of Canada in Egypt offer athletic scholarships to Egyptian students enrolled in their Cairo branches of University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) and Ryerson. Athletes who’ve scored a medal in an individual sport at the international level get a full scholarship, while those who play team sports can get a 50% break on tuition if they landed medals in international tournaments. Students who claim national tournament titles can get 10-30% scholarships based on their rankings. Athletes must maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.7 and continue to practice their sport and play tournaments under the name of Universities of Canada.

Although it’s not direct financial support, the government recognizes athletic achievements by adding extra marks for athletic excellence to their total score in their final school year, as per the Education Act. World championship title holders and Olympics get an additional 12-24 marks if they finish in first, second, third, or fourth place. Those who earn African, Mediterranean or Arab titles also get recognition for their athletic achievement with 4-18 additional marks ranging, depending on the competition and their ranking. As for local competitions, athletes can get between 3-8 additional marks if they get a medal or reach fourth place.

Which sports are recognized? Any of the sports on the Olympics list, as well as a few that aren’t including: Squash, kung fu, diving, speedball, golf, and chess. To get the athletic excellence marks, the championship must be accredited by international federations, and the student has to be enrolled in schools accredited by the Education Ministry.

---

Your top education stories for the week:

• Cabinet approved a draft decision by the prime minister to reduce tuition fees for international students at several universities outside of Cairo, according to a statement following the cabinet’s weekly meeting.
• Egypt has signed MoUs with 10 international companies — including IBM, Cisco, and VMWare — to advance Egyptian students’ IT skills, according to a cabinet statement.