St Andrews welcomes Egyptian student leaders

This evening the University and Students’ Association welcomes the first group of Egyptian student leaders to St Andrews and the UK since the overthrow of Mubarak.

For those of you who somehow missed last year’s biggest event or lost a few too many brain cells in a tequila race, the Arab Spring was a series of massive revolts across the Arab world resulting in the overthrow of several authoritarian dictators, including the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak. These revolts were generally youth-led movements strongly supported by students.

The Students’ Association has recently established a relationship with the Ain Shams University in Cairo and subsequently organized a tour of Scotland (Nessie, Edinburgh Castle and Dundee?) for a delegation of Egyptian students. The tour consists of representatives from three different Egyptian universities who will also be speaking at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and a few other places that, let’s face it, are a lot less fun than St Andrews.

These efforts are largely a result of Association President, Patrick O’Hare who said that “The delegation also remind[s] me that students should be leaders, motors and a moral compass in society and thus it is fitting that it is the student movement which is taking the lead in creating links between Scotland and the Arab Spring. I hope that other sections of civil society can follow suit.”

For anyone interested in learning more about the ongoing efforts of the Arab Spring or our newfound partnership with an Egyptian university should attend the St Andrews branch of the tour tonight at 7:15 in School 1.

For full details check out the facebook page.

Photo © New York Times