The British University of Egypt (BUE) inaugurated its Chinese language and culture department in Cairo on Monday. With a faculty of 2 Egyptian and 2 Chinese, the department enrolled the first batch of 24 students in Aug. Being Egypt's first private university with a Chinese language program, BUE sees Chinese as a future-oriented skill given the growing bilateral ties. The BUE plans to cooperate with Chinese universities in undergraduate training programs. 11,000 students are currently studying at the BUE that was founded in 2005.■