Ismail Serageldin invited the Ministers concerned and the key intellectuals of Egypt to meet in a special conference on the reform of Egyptian education (all levels, including research and S&T). The lively meeting ably organized by Hosam Badrawy and Mohsen Youssef, saw many important interventions. A volume will; be issued soon. In the meantime, Serageldins presentation on international experience was widely lauded, and his paper on the mechanisms of reform to introduce excellence in Egyptian education was widely quoted in the press.