Maryland students first to feel Egypt's impact

Maryland students first to feel Egypt's impact
The wave of riots in Egypt have not made a big impact in Maryland yet, but the major state colleges are taking steps to run the students and employees of foreign origin in the Middle Eastern country.

Maryland universities with programs of study abroad in Egypt say they have evacuated the students in the country after the riots on 25 January as part of a public outcry calling for the impeachment of President Hosni Mubarak in power.

The University of Maryland, College Park, said there was a small group of seven students who enrolled in programs of study abroad in Egypt this semester.

Six of the students are back in the U.S. or on the way back until Monday afternoon. A student who enrolled on his own in a program of the American University in Cairo, has not yet come. The university said it is doing everything possible to return the student home for the last time safely.

"Since the beginning of the unrest, the university authorities have been monitoring the situation and been in constant contact with students and their parents, or other designated emergency contacts," the spokesman said Millree Williams.