Notable alumni and attendees of Cairo University are listed here, first by decade of their graduation (or last attendance) and then alphabetically.

Unknown date of attendance and graduation Ahmed Mohamed Al-Hofi (1910–1983) Member of the Shu a and of the Academy of the Arabic Language. Kamil Idris is a former director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He earned a BA in philosophy, political science and economic theories from Cairo University (Division I with Honours). He was also a lecturer in philosophy and jurisprudence there (1976–1977). Heba Kotb (born 1967), Egyptian sex therapist and TV host

1800s Naguib Pasha Mahfouz, the father of obstetrics and gynaecology in Egypt, and a world pioneer in obstetric fistula. Abdel Khalek Sarwat Pasha (1873–1928), twice Prime Minister of Egypt (March 1, 1922 - November 30, 1922) and (April 26, 1927 - March 16, 1928). graduated with a License de Droit from the School of Law, later Cairo University in 1893.

1910s

Taha Hussein (1889–1973) was born in Izbit il-Kilo, Egypt. In 1914 he graduated from Cairo University. Later he was the first Egyptian Dean of the Faculty of the Arts there and the first Egyptian to be nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature. He was also Minister of Education. He was blind from early childhood.Hussein, Taha, The Days: His Autobiography in Three Parts, American University in Cairo Press; 2nd edition (October 1997).

1920s Hassan Fathy, widely acclaimed architect of the 20th century. Fathy promoted appropriate technology and design for Egyptian construction and context, and was recognized with an Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1980. Soheir El-Calamawy, writer and translator; first woman to join the university.

1930s

Mufidah Abdul Rahman, the first female lawyer to take cases to the Court of Cassation in Egypt, the first woman to practice law in Cairo, Egypt, the first woman to plead a case before a military court in Egypt, and the first woman to plead cases before courts in the south of Egypt. Yehia Hakki is one of the pioneers of the 20th-century modern literary movement in Egypt. He has experimented with the various literary norms: the short story, the novel, literary criticism, essays, meditations, and literary translation.

Writer and philosopher Naguib Mahfouz was born in the Gamaliyya district of Cairo in 1911. He graduated from Cairo University in 1934. He has published more than fifty books of fiction, many of which have been translated and published in English. The film Cairo 1930 was based on his novel al-Qahira al-jadida. In 1988 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.Nobel: Mahfouz Naguib. Geometry.Net. Retrieved on 2011-01-30. Zaki Naguib Mahmoud was a "Philosopher of Authors & Author of Philosophers".at Infomideast.com . Culture.infomideast.com. Retrieved on 2011-01-30. He was an associate of philosopher Bertrand Russell and John Eyre. He graduated from the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University in 1930. He earned his PhD in England, then returned to Egypt and became a professor of philosophy at his alma mater. He also taught at Kuwait University and wrote for Al-Ahram newspaper. He wrote many books, including The Philosophy of Science (1952), The Reasonable and the Absurd in our Intellectual Heritage (1975), and Seeds and Roots (1990). Sameera Moussa was an Egyptian nuclear scientist. She graduated with a BSc in radiology from Cairo University. Ahmed Shawky Deif was an Arabic literary critic, historian and president of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo.

1940s Husayn Fawzi Alnajjar(1918–2003), an Egyptian Historian, Political Scientist, Strategist, and Islamic scholar. He graduated in 1940 with a M.A. in military sciences. Hikmat Abu Zayd is the former Minister of Social Affairs (1962–1965) under Gamal Abdel Nasser and the first female cabinet member in Egypt. She received a licence in history from Cairo University (then named Fuad I University) in 1940 and went on to receive a teaching certificate in 1941, a MA in education in 1950, and a PhD in educational psychology from the University of London in 1957. Said Ashour, professor of history Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian diplomat and was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996. He graduated from Cairo University in 1946 and earned a PhD in international law from the University of Paris as well as a diploma in international relations from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. Nazeer Gayed was Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria. Born in 1923, he earned a BA in English and history from Cairo University in 1947. Later he attended the Coptic Theological Seminary. After becoming a hermit for several years, he became Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological University. He was consecrated the 117th Pope of Alexandria in 1971. Mohamed Hassanein Heikal is a prominent Egyptian journalist. He served as the editor-in-chief of the Cairo newspaper Al-Ahram (1957–1974). Heikal has been a respected commentator on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs for more than 50 years. Halim El-Dabh (born 1921), Egypt's foremost living composer of classical music, and the composer (in 1960) of the original score to the Son et lumière show at the site of the Great Pyramids of Giza. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural engineering in 1945 and emigrated to the United States in 1950. Hassan Fathy, eco-engineer. Osman Ahmed Osman, engineer and politician. Magdi Wahba (1925–1991), Egypt's foremost lexicographer and professor of English Literature from 1957 to 1980 when he retired as emeritus professor. He obtained his LLB from the Faculty of Law in 1946.

1950s Ihsan Abbas (1920–2003) was a Palestinian scholar and literary critic. He earned his BA, MA and PhD degrees from the University of Cairo between 1950 and 1960. Abbas went on to teach at the University of Khartoum and American University of Beirut, in addition to performing research for the University of Jordan after his retirement. Fayza Haikal (1938-), is an Egyptian Egyptologist. After earning her BA degree from Cairo University she went on to earn a doctorate degree from Oxford University, as the first Egyptian woman. She was Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo and was visiting professor at several other universities. Latifa al-Zayyat (1923–1996) was an Egyptian artist and intellectual. She was born in Dumyat and earned her PhD in English literature from Cairo University in 1957. She was head of the English department there from 1976 to 1983. Her first novel, Al-Bab al-Maftooh (The Open Door) was published in 1960. Later in life she founded and led the Committee for the Defense of National Culture, which spearheaded efforts against the normalization of cultural relations with Israel.

Yasser Arafat was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (1969–2004), president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) (1993–2004); and a co-recipient of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize alongside Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, for the successful negotiations of the 1993 Oslo Accords. He graduated from the King Fuad Cairo University Faculty of Engineering in 1956. While there, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood and served as president of the Union of Palestinian Students from 1952 to 1956.Yasser Arafat. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved on 2011-01-30.Biography – Yasser Arafat – Chairman of the PLO. MidEast Web. Retrieved on 2011-01-30. Sayyid Abdurahman Imbichikoya Thangal Al-Aydarusi Al-Azhari was the President of Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama (1995–2004), the largest Muslim organisation in Kerala, India Yusuf Idris, physician and writer. Amr Moussa is the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States. He graduated from the Cairo University Faculty of Law in 1957. Notaila Rashed (1934–2012) was an Egyptian children's author and translator. She helped found and was the editor-in-chief of the leading Egyptian children's magazine during its time, Samir. Geneviève Baqtar Sydarous (1925–2016), journalist and translator Magdi Yacoub is a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Imperial College London. He was involved in the first UK heart transplant in 1980, carried out the first UK live lobe lung transplant and went on to perform more transplants than any other surgeon in the world. Mr. Yacoub graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University in 1957.

1960s

Ghazi Al-Qusaibi is a Saudi Arabian liberal politician, novelist, Saudi Minister of Labor, and intellectual. He received his law degree from Cairo University in 1961. He earned his MA in international relations from the University of Southern California in 1964, and obtained his PhD in law from the University of London in 1970. Eid Hassan Doha is a former mathematics professor at the university who earned bachelor's, masters, and doctorate degrees at the school. Mohamed ElBaradei was the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1997 to 2005. He was born in Egypt in 1942 and earned a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Cairo in 1962 and a doctorate in international law at the New York University School of Law in 1974. He won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. His name has been circulated by opposition groups since 2009 as a possible candidate to succeed President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt's highest executive position. Mohamed Ghonim The international urologist and founder of the Mansoura University Urology & Nephrology Center. Saddam Hussein was the president of Iraq from 1979 until he lost power over Iraq when American troops arrived in Baghdad on 9 April 2003. He entered the Faculty of Law at Cairo University in 1962 and left to return to Iraq in 1964. He also attended Mustanseriya University in Baghdad. He was executed on 30 December 2006 for crimes against humanity. Archaeologist Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovski is the director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was born in Armenia in 1944. In 1967 he graduated from the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad State University, having majored in Arabic Studies. He attended Cairo University from 1965 to 1966. He is a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a professor at St. Petersburg State University. He was awarded the Russian Order of Honor in 1997. Asteroid 4869 Piotrovsky is named after him and his father, Professor Boris Borisovich Piotrovski. Adel S. Sedra received his B.Sc. in electrical engineering from Cairo University in 1964. After completing his M.A.Sc. and PhD degrees, Sedra joined the faculty of the University of Toronto in 1969 and became associate professor in 1972 and professor in 1978. He served as chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 1986 to 1993, and was vice president, provost, and chief academic officer from July 1, 1993, to 2002. On July 1, 2003, Sedra joined the University of Waterloo as dean of its Faculty of Engineering and as professor of electrical and computer engineering. Omar Sharif is an Egyptian-born actor (of Lebanese and Syrian origin) who has starred in many Hollywood films. He studied maths and physics at Cairo University and graduated in 1963. Ahmed Ezz (born in 1959) graduated from Cairo University with a degree in civil engineering. He is an Egyptian politician and business tycoon and the chairman and managing director of Al Ezz Industries. George Issac, (born 1938) is a political activist and a Coptic Catholic. He graduated with a BA in history in 1964. Hoda ElMaraghy (born 1945) Walid Muallem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Syria

1970s Mahmoud al-Zahar, co founded Hamas alongside Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. He currently serves as foreign minister in the Palestinian National Authority government of Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza. He studied medicine at Cairo University.