Al Azhar rejects training demand from Algeria

Algeria’s religious affairs ministry is still waiting for a reply from Egypt-based Al Azhar University to allow students to prepare master and doctoral degrees as part of a concluded agreement.

• “Al Azhar University did not reply to Algeria’s demand about the implementation of the agreement on purpose. The first group is expected to include 53 imams and students. Of them, they are 10 professors. They are supposed to be taught by Al Azhar’s teachers,” the ministry’s press attaché Adda Felahi told Echorouk.
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• “Al Azhar was supposed to present the authorisation in November. This date was in coincidence with the World Cup qualifying match between Algeria and Egypt,” he added.
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• He also said the agreement came to improve the level of mosques’ executives on high-quality scientific bases. “All the necessary measures were taken and the only remaining thing is the authorisation.”
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• Asked whether the ministry can boycott the agreement, he said it is a question of time pending for a reply from Al Azhar University.
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• More than 200 Algerian students in Egypt are concerned about the possible consequences of the forthcoming African Nations Handball Championship due to be held in Cairo. They asked Algeria’s higher education ministry to integrate them in the Algerian universities.