Victoria College, Alexandria
| Victoria College | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location | |
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Alexandria Egypt |
|
| Information | |
| Type |
Private Under the supervision of the Ministry of Education |
| Motto | Cuncti Gens Una Sumus (Latin) (We Are All One People) |
| Established | 1902 |
| Director | Mahmoud Hedeya |
| Language | English |
| Newspaper | The Victorian |
Victoria College, Alexandria, (Arabic: كلية فيكتوريا) was founded in 1902 under the impetus of the recently ennobled Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer of the Barings Bank, that was heavily invested in Egyptian stability. For years the British Consul-General was ex officio on the board of Victoria College. The new college was to raise the standard of Imperial education and free it from the influences of the madrassas and the ubiquitous Jesuits, both of whom made the British foreign office uneasy. Among prominent subscribers to the project were members of the prominent internationalized Jewish and Maltese minority in Egypt including members of the Egyptian Royal family. Prior to the 1930s establishment of Baghdad College, members of the upper class of Iraq sent their children to Victoria College.
During World War II, many displaced European royals and nobles were added to the student body:
The British Imperial-outpost phase of Victoria College ended abruptly in 1956, the year that began with the dissolution of Anglo-Egyptian cooperation and saw the Suez Crisis in October. The entire British faculty was fired.
But the College continues to this day. At Victoria College on El Iqbal Street, Former Bulgarian King and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha attended classes along with schoolmates such as King Hussein of Jordan, Zaid Al Rifai, the Kashoggi brothers (whose father was one of Saudi King Abdulaziz's physicians), Kamal Adham (who ran the Saudi external intelligence directorate under King Faisal), scholar Edward Said, present-day Saudi businessmen Mohammed Al Attas, the Shobokshi brothers and Ghassan Shaker —Internationally famous director Youssef Chahine, and actor Omar Sharif and many Princes from the Libyan Royal family and the Jordanian Royal Family. Until 1952 when the King of Egypt King Farouk of Egypt was overthrown many notable Egyptian families including members of the Egyptian Royal Family attended the College.
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Wikipedia