Tanta University was first established in 1962, as a branch of the University of Alexandria. It only had a faculty of medicine and then in 1972, became an independent university called the University of the Middle Delta, complete with a faculty of medicine, faculty of science, faculty of agriculture and faculty of education. It finally became Tanta University in 1973.
It has since gained a faculty of engineering, faculty of law, faculty of veterinary medicine, faculty of physical education, faculty of dentistry, faculty of pharmacy and faculty of arts.
The university opened a branch institution in Kafr ash Shaykh in 1983, which separated in 2006 to become an independent university under the name of the Kafr ash Shaykh University.
Its president is Mahmoud Ahmed Zaki.
Located in the city of Tanta, which is the fifth largest populated area in Egypt with around 421,100 inhabitants. Tanta is the capital of the Gharbia Governorate, a centre for the cotton ginning industry and is located between Cairo and Alexandria.
Famed for its sweet shops and roasted chickpeas, the city really comes alive in late October when three million people from around the Delta and other Arabic countries, come to celebrate the end of the cotton harvest.
The Moulid of Sayid Ahmed el-Badawi is a religious eight-day celebration centred around the mosque and tomb of Sayid Ahmed el-Badawi, who founded one of Egypt’s largest Sufi orders called the Ahmadiyyah or Badiwiyya. During the festival, sugar-coated nuts called hubb el 'Aziz (seeds of the Beloved Prophet) are eaten, which have been considered a delicacy since the 1800s.
