Tomorrow’s Leaders Graduate (TLG) students program is a joint effort between the US Department of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA/AC), and AUC. TLG equips academically qualified and economically deserving students with the professional qualifications and experience needed to advance knowledge and contribute to the achievement of socially relevant outcomes through organized graduate study and research that furthers the professionalization of emerging leaders and proposes local solutions to shared problems in the MENA region.

TLG offers students from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) a unique opportunity to pursue higher education and earn a master degree at The American University in Cairo in one of the following graduate programs:

• Economics
• International and Comparative Education
• Migration and Refugee Studies
• Nanotechnology

Eligibility

• Nationals of the following countries only: Algeria, Iraq,  Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, and Syrian citizens residing outside of Syria
• Meet AUC graduate admission requirements
• Strong academic potential with a bachelor degree of a minimum overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or equivalent
• Proficiency in written and spoken English
• Possess maturity, flexibility, and leadership potential demonstrated in a combination of extracurricular activities, recommendations, and interviews.
• Financial need

Research Requirement(s):

Applicants to the TLG students program must commit to pursuing their graduate thesis research in one of the following research projects:

MA in Economics

• ECON1: Examining the trajectory and agency of young people living in a context of marginalization and exclusion in the slum neighborhoods of Greater Cairo (Mona Said, Rania Roushdy)
• ECON2:Studying the degree of the economic integration of refugees into the economies of the hosting countries (Dina Abdel Fattah)
• ECON3: School-level determinants of vulnerable students’ success (Rami Galal)
• ECON4: Evaluating the impact of the graduation approach in Egypt in 400 poor villages across two governorates in Sohag and Assiut (Mona Said)

MA International and Comparative Education

• EDU1:Third space: A place for localizing scientific knowledge in the MENA region (Heba El Deghaidy)
• EDU2:Bridging the Gender Gap in Employment through Leadership in Education (Ibrahim Karkouti)
• EDU3: Literacy in the Professions: MENA Region (Thomas Wolsey)
• EDU4: Effective strategies for education relevance and quality (Teklu Abate)
• EDU5:Creating effective strategies for equity and accessibility across academic disciplines for professional success (Thomas Wolsey)

MA Migration and Refugees Studies

• MIGR1: Gender and South-South Migration (Maysa Ayoub, Gerda Heck)
• MIGR2:Poverty, Inequalities and Migration (Ibrahim Awad, Gerda Heck)
• MGR3: International Migration in the Euro-Mediterranean Region in the aftermath Covid-19 (Ibrahim Awad, Gerda Heck)

MSc Nanotechnology

• NANO1: Nano-engineered Forward Osmosis (FO) blend membranes with enhanced performance for use in desalination applications (Amal Esawi)
• NANO2: Metal additive manufacturing of engineered porous, cellular structures for biomedical applications (Hanadi A. G. Salem)
• NANO3: Novel Bio-coated Nanoparticles for the Eco-friendly Removal of Antibiotics from Egyptian Agricultural Waters (Tamer Shoeib, Mayyada El-Sayed)
• NANO4: A Novel Nano-enabled Sustainable Process for Removing Agrochemicals from Egyptian Agricultural Waters (Tamer Shoeib, Mayyada El-Sayed)

Duration

The TLG students program is awarded for two years, in addition to any academic English language remedial courses that might be needed, with a review every semester for satisfactory academic performance.

Award

The TLG students program covers:

1. Full tuition fees for the fall and spring semesters
2. Medical insurance
3. A monthly stipend
4. Student housing
5. Laptop
6. Internship/practicum opportunity including local transportation costs if needed
7. Opportunity to attend one conference to present research findings, applied to and awarded competitively, as per the guidelines for Graduate Student Support Grants
8. Two annual round-trip economy air ticket from home to campus; or housing and living stipend to continue approved program activities on campus during breaks for students unable to return home because of circumstances outside of their control

Responsibilities of TLG students:

• Students must maintain full-time status throughout their graduate studies
• Students are expected to complete their degrees within two years from their date of admission
• Maintain a minimum GPA of 3.2
• Commit to the chosen research projects
• Successfully complete at least one gender studies graduate-level course
• Successfully complete a TLG academic English writing course
• Successfully complete leadership/civic engagement workshops assigned throughout the program
• Take part in the TLG graduate student’s conferences
• Commit to all activities as described in the TLG program manual

To Apply

Step 1: Check how to apply and submit the online TLG students program – Graduate admission application.
Step 2: Follow the instructions here to complete and submit the online TLG students program-support application.

Deadline:  The admission application deadline for Spring 2022 is October 1.

Note that for Spring 2022, AUC is only accepting applications from the following countries: Iraq, Jordan, and Morocco

The graduate support application deadline October 15 for the spring semester.

TLG Frequently Asked Questions

For inquiries, email tlg@aucegypt.edu.