The American University in Cairo is an independent, non-profit organization founded in 1919. The university's missions are to provide high quality education to students from not only Egypt, but also all over the world in order to promote international understanding as well as diverse cultural awareness. The American University in Cairo offers twenty undergraduate bachelor degrees programs in both science and arts streams. Moreover, it provides extensive research programs as an integral part of the university's academic program. AUC has over the years continued to believe in its Liberal Arts education policy. The university has started in a luxurious villa built by Khedive Ismail in 1870 in the center of Tahrir, Cairo's biggest square, in front of the Egyptian Museum, one of the oldest and spectacular museums in the world. Today, the university enrolls over 4300 students taking undergraduate and graduate credit courses and 38000 students enrolled in non-credit courses in the Center for Adult and Continuing Education.