The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Egypt, in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, signed on 1 June a Memorandum of Understanding with Cairo University to establish a Migration Research Unit (MRU) to provide a platform for communication among migration experts.

The MRU aims at increasing different stakeholders’ knowledge on migration, mobility and human development, migration governance and national migration polices in a multidisciplinary manner. This will be achieved through organising a group of seminars and educational workshops to exchange views on migration matters and their impact on the economic and social level within Egyptian society.

Mahmoud El-Said, dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, has affirmed that “the establishment of this unit is considered a significant addition to the faculty centres and programmes.”

According to professor of economics and director of the centre Adela Rajab, “the unit will play an important role in building national capacities and this will contribute in the long term to developing more comprehensive migration policies based on evidence-based data and a deep understanding of all related matters of migration and how to manage it.”

IOM Egypt Chief of Mission Laurent De Boeck congratulated the Faculty of Economics and Political Science for their academic and practical support to the government of Egypt in making migration governance a success.

The MRU establishment supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely Goal 10, Reduced Inequalities, specifically target 10.7, which is to “facilitate orderly, safe, and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies,” as well as Goal 17, Partnerships for the Goals.

By engaging scholars and researchers in an interdisciplinary learning process, the MRU will be supported with a virtual library on migration data sources provided through the IOM online library.