Cairo, "the City Victorious": Megacities, Memory, and the Future
Ever imagined what it would be like to live in a city of 26 million people? Welcome to Cairo! Situated on the Nile River extending westward to the ancient Pyramids and eastward farther into the desert then it's ever gone, the city is bursting at the seams, throbbing with life, hopes, dreams, and tons of history.
About the program
Alongside lectures at the AUC on the history of Cairo as a connected regional and global center and a concluding climate change and sustainability workshop led by a former Concordia grad, students will experience what it means to live in a megalopolis through trips to key sites of the city's development. We will explore this grand city from its pre-history (the Pyramids of the Pharaohs at Giza and the recently opened Grand Egyptian Museum) and Late Antiquity (Coptic churches, Jewish synagogue housing the famous Geniza repository) to the Middle Ages (Islamic and Mamluk mosques, madrasas, cafes, and markets) and modern times (Mehmed Ali’s Citadel, public squares to nationalist leaders, the new administrative capital region, etc.). In collaboration with le Centre d’études et de documentation économiques, juridiques et sociales (CEDEJ), students will gain insight into the contemporary music scene. For contrast and comparison, we will visit a small village in the Fayyum Oasis famous for its traditional yet curiously modernized pottery craft and we will take the new high-speed train to the even more ancient city of Alexandria on the Mediterranean, with visits to once-famous cosmopolitan neighborhoods, the Graeco-Roman Museum, and the modern iteration of the Alexandria Library. We will bid farewell to this incredible city with an evening spent sailing in a traditional felucca on the Nile—the lifeblood of Egypt and neighboring lands. Students will alongside lecture notes, document their site visits in image, sound, and text, which will feed into their final report for the course.
Program dates
Dates: May 31, 2026 - June 16, 2026
- Trips in Cairo: Pyramids and GEM, Islamic Cairo and al-Azhar Park, Mamluk monuments and the Citadel, Coptic Cairo and the Geniza synagogue, major public squares built from the 1920s-1950s, famous coffee houses, Khan al-Khalili Bazaar, Nile excursion.
- Trip to Alexandria: Graeco-Roman Museum, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Cosmopolitan Haunts, Corniche on the Mediterranean.
- Trip to Tunis Village in Fayyum Oasis: Visit to Pottery Museum and Potters Studios, visit to Bayt Neal to view desert architecture and agriculture, Lake Qarun.
- Workshop: Climate Change and Sustainability with Dr. Sherif Gobran.
Program course
This course is offered at the undergraduate and Masters level:
- Hist 398, Department of History
Estimated cost
Program fee is TBC
The program fee includes:
Concordia tuition = 3 credits Concordia tuition
- For an estimate of the tuition fee please use the tuition fee estimator.
- Master and Ph.D level students will pay the same graduate tuition charged per semester in program.
Available funding
Quebec Mobility Bursary
To help with the costs of going abroad, Concordia students can receive a Quebec Mobility Bursary. To be eligible you must be a Concordia student enrolled in a full-time bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree program and approved to participate in the Field School.
Important to note:
Field School applicants do not need to submit a Quebec Mobility Bursary application as it is part of the on-line Field School application, and you will automatically be considered for the Quebec Mobility Bursary.
The bursary will be applied to student accounts. Details on the payment of the bursary will be sent to successful Field School applicants.
Contact Concordia International if you have any questions about the Quebec Mobility Bursary.
Host Institution
Our host institution in Egypt will be the Department of History at the American University in Cairo. It is one of the oldest modern universities in the Middle East set on a beautiful campus in New Cairo: https://www.aucegypt.edu
Accomodations
Students will be staying in double occupancy dorm rooms at the American University in Cairo campus.
Application Process
To be eligible to participate in the field school, you must meet one of the following criteria.
Undergraduate Students:
- Be enrolled in a Bachelor’s degree program, have a minimum 2.7 cumulative GPA and have completed at least 30 credits toward your current degree program by the end of the academic year.
Graduate students:
- May be considered for the program if there are any remaining seats, but in all cases they must be enrolled in a Master’s degree program, with a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA (CGPA) and have completed at least9 credits toward their current degree program by the departure date, or, they must be enrolled in a PhD degree program, have a 3.7 cumulative GPA (CGPA) and have completed at least 9 credits toward their current degree program by the departure date.
Please note that this program can accommodate a maximum of 15 participants.
All students interested in applying to this program must attend an information session given by Concordia International prior to submitting an application.
Date: January 26, 2026
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Zoom link: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/j/365481069
- Submit the Concordia Field School Abroad Application through the Concordia International Outgoing Mobility portal by the application deadline of February 9, 2026. The application can be accessed through the Concordia International CSEP Mobility Portal.
Your application must also include:
- A copy of your most recent transcript (whether from Concordia or another institution). An unofficial Concordia transcript.
- Interested students should begin by emailing Prof. Jacob at wilson.jacob@concordia.ca with a short statement explaining why you want to go to Egypt and whether you have any prior experience living or traveling in the Middle East.
Final admissions decisions will be made by the Professor Wilson Jacob.
By March 6, 2026, admitted students must make a non refundable payment of TBC on their Concordia student account towards the cost of the Field School.
Students admitted to the program will have to attend a mandatory pre-departure meeting held by Concordia International and the professor in person and online through the following Zoom link: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/j/3654810697 on TBC.