Egypt’s Armed Forces announced the establishment of Kayan University, a civilian university that aims to provide an educational environment that fosters innovation and creativity across various fields of study while preparing highly qualified young people to benefit from the latest scientific knowledge.
According to Lieutenant-General Ashraf Salem Zaher, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and minister of defence and military production, the Armed Forces are committed to playing an active role in supporting the Egyptian state’s vision of preparing strong generations capable of advancing the country’s leadership across all sectors.
He stressed that the Armed Forces are keen to select only the best applicants after they successfully pass a comprehensive series of tests conducted through an electronic system with no human intervention in order to ensure the highest standards of transparency and equal opportunity.
An applicant’s abilities and excellence are the sole criteria for admission, he said.
Applicants to the new university must be Egyptian nationals born to Egyptian parents and grandparents who acquired their nationality by birth rather than naturalisation. Neither the applicants nor their parents may hold another nationality.
Candidates must have obtained the Egyptian General Secondary Certificate, the Thanawiya Amma, or an equivalent qualification in either 2025 or 2026. They must not be older than 21 on 1 November 2026. They must also have a record of good conduct and meet the university’s health standards.
Applicants are also required to pass physical fitness and psychological tests, achieve satisfactory results in aptitude examinations covering English, computer science, chemistry, biology, and an intelligence assessment, and successfully complete a personal interview before the admissions committee.
Students who withdraw from the university at any stage before graduation will be required to bear all tuition and accommodation costs.
For the faculties of medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, and pharmacy, the university will admit only students who completed the science stream of the General Secondary Certificate, the Al-Azhar Secondary Certificate, or equivalent scientific qualifications.
The minimum admission score is 90 per cent for medicine, 89 per cent for dentistry, 88 per cent for physical therapy, and 87 per cent for pharmacy. The medicine programme lasts seven years, including five years of study followed by a two-year internship, while the other medical programmes last six years, comprising five years of study and one internship year.
Graduates will receive a bachelor’s degree in their respective specialisation, a certificate confirming completion of the internship, and a licence to practise their profession.
For the engineering, computing, and artificial intelligence programmes, the Faculty of Engineering will admit only students from the mathematics stream of the General Secondary Certificate, the Al-Azhar Secondary Certificate, or equivalent scientific qualifications.
The Faculty of Computing and Artificial Intelligence will admit holders of General Secondary, Al-Azhar Secondary, or equivalent scientific certificates from the scientific stream. The minimum admission score is 85 per cent for engineering and 80 per cent for computing and artificial intelligence.
These programmes are taught over four academic years under the credit-hour system. The Engineering Department will offer bachelor’s degrees in electronics and communications engineering, electrical power and energy engineering, biomedical engineering, mechanical power and energy engineering, mechatronics engineering, and design and manufacturing engineering.
The Faculty of Computing and Artificial Intelligence will offer bachelor’s degrees in computer science, software engineering, cybersecurity, data science, intelligent systems, and robotics.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 23 July, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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