Description: The American University in Cairo was founded in 1919 by Americans devoted to education and service in the Middle East. For its first 27 years the university was shaped by its founding president, Dr. Charles A. Watson. He wanted to create an English-language university based on high standards of conduct and scholarship and to contribute to intellectual growth, discipline, and character of the future leaders of Egypt and the region. He also believed that such a university would greatly improve America's understanding of the area.
Initially, AUC was intended to be both a preparatory school and a university. The preparatory school opened on October 5, 1920, with 142 students in two classes that were equivalent to the last two years of an American high school. The first diplomas issued were junior college-level certificates given to 20 students in 1923. At first an institution only for males, the university enrolled its first female student in 1928, the same year in which the first university class graduated with two B.A.'s and one B.S. degrees awarded. Master's degrees were first offered in 1950.