[CAIRO] Egypt's cabinet has approved the country's first comprehensive strategy linking the development of scientific research and higher education. The plans, drawn up by the supreme council of universities (SCU), focus on strengthening research capacity, improving the quality of scientific research, fostering innovation and promoting public understanding of science.

According to Amer Ezzat Salama, minister of higher education and scientific research and president of SCU, the strategy includes plans to build 11 new universities with a science focus within three years. A distance learning university and four technical colleges will also be established in the same period, and existing and planned universities will all be linked to the Internet.