University of Manchester affirms relationship with Mansoura University ahead of 20th anniversary

Delegates from The University of Manchester visited Egypt this December to celebrate the graduation of the latest cohort from the Mansoura Manchester Medical Program.

2025 will mark two decades since the partnership between The University of Manchester and Mansoura University was forged, a relationship which led to the development of Egypt’s first international medical programme.

In 2006 an initial cohort of 60 students were welcomed on to the scheme. Today the programme takes on just under 400 trainees annually, with 50% of these being international students. These students to date have hailed from 45 different countries, including students from neighbouring countries in crisis who receive their medical education through scholarships in Mansoura.

With many medical schools closed in these regions, Mansoura is helping to ensure a medical service can continue in these countries and is playing an instrumental role in educating the next generation of doctors, while helping to meet the urgent global need for an increased health workforce.

Professor Keith Brennan, Vice Dean for Internationalisation, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, at The University of Manchester said: “As we continue to celebrate our 200th year anniversary and the impact of our teaching and research partnerships, we can also see how our international partnerships are directly contributing to meeting global need and the huge difference they are making towards meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly Goals 3 Good Health & Wellbeing and 4, Quality Education.”

Additionally, The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that there will be a global deficit of 10-14.5 million healthcare workers by 2030, 6.1 million of this deficit will be in Africa and a further 1.7 million will be in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.

The Mansoura Manchester Medical Program directly addresses this deficit, providing training for the next generation of doctors in the region. As the programme provides an integrated training, graduates are able to work in any healthcare system globally.

The programme takes the best approaches to medical education seen globally, which put the patient first and emphasise competencies meaning graduates are in a better place to diagnose and treat patients.

Professor Ashraf Shoma, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University said: “International partnerships such as this brings enormous benefits for our students, staff and local populations. Our graduates are able to join a global workforce that can meet patient needs, both here in Egypt and overseas”.

Professor Lucie Byrne-Davies, Associate Dean for Internationalisation, Teaching & Learning Partnerships, Faculty of Biology, Medicine & Health at The University of Manchester said: “The Mansoura Manchester Medical Program is a truly collaborative initiative that combines The University of Manchester’s holistic curriculum with the quality teaching delivered by our colleagues in Egypt. Our programme provides healthcare education that will equip students with the lifelong learning and research skills they need to thrive in their future careers.”

Attending the latest cohort’s graduation were Professor Keith Brennan, Professor Lucie Byrne-Davis and Professor Joanne Hart.