Page 3 - Issue 26

Vol.1 Issue 26, December 2020 ELITE

Dr Sameh Fawzy, SENIOR RESEARCHER AT THE TECHNICAL bureau OF
THE DIRECTOR OF BIBLIOTHECA ALEXANDRINA

D E V E L O P ME N T I S T H E S I N E Q U A N O N O F A N Y

E F F E C T I V E C I T I Z E N S H I P

Cairo : Ramy Magdy and Nadeen Hesham

by reading literature, broadening one ’s general knowledge,
Our interview this month is with Dr. Sameh Fawzy, Senior
keeping up with current events and participating in civil society
Researcher at the Technical Office of the Director of the
organizations. However, these forms of participation in public
Bibliotheca Alexandrina , a B.Sc in Political Science 1992, he
life don ’t necessarily attract this type of student as much as they
also holds M.Sc and PhD in Public Administration from FEPS,
attract an active student who cares about his intellectual
in addition to a Master degree in Political Development from
formation.
the University of Sussex ,UK. Dr Sameh is also a writer in Al-

Ahram and Shorouk News ,and published many books and
Generally, the Faculty provides students with a wide space in
studies in Arabic and English.
which they can broaden their horizons by thinking about
domestic and internal political issues and their relations to the
• How did your relationship with the Faculty of Economics
economy, which represents the infrastructure needed to continue
and Political Science begin and why did you choose it?
shaping their intellectual formation. And we can see this by
looking at FEPS graduates; while some grow to become
I earned my General Secondary Education certificate from the
important in public life, others – with all due respect – satisfy
arts section with a score of 90% in 1988. The Faculty of
with a mundane employed life. And these are life choices.
Economics and Political Science at the time required a
minimum score of 82% and it was among the top faculties for
• To whom is Dr. Sameh Fawzy grateful?
arts students, especially given the limited options available to
them back then. I considered joining the Faculty of Languages
This is a difficult question to answer. I ’m grateful to many
but I found myself leaning more towards FEPS.
professors and colleagues at the Faculty but I don ’t want to
mention names lest I forget some of them. There are some
• In your opinion, how does FEPS play a role in shaping its
professors that I ’ve gotten in touch with personally and have
students ’ mindsets?
been influenced by. I feel happy and humbled at the same time
whenever I hear that one of my professors has referred to an
Honestly, it depends more on the willingness of students
article or a research of mine in a public lecture that I didn ’t
themselves than on what the Faculty has to offer them. Because
attend. But, of course, I must mention Prof. Dr. Attia Hussein
you might find a student who ’s clever in terms of memorizing
2
Afandy, the supervisor of my master ’s and PhD theses, whom I
topics but lacks social awareness, which needs to be developed