A little over two years ago, and following the public uprising that ousted long-time president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, academics in the most populous Arab state starting calling for change and upheaval in the country’s aching higher educational system. Various calls ranging from more transparency in choosing university leadership to more democracy for both faculty and students went out. Some where answered and others remain unheeded – yet there has been little signs of improvement on the ground.

University World News has published a feature on the changes that the higher education system has gone through since the uprising. Seven new public universities have been founded, mostly as spin-offs from already existing universities, writes Nadia El-Awady. The bulk of those are outside the population centres of Cairo and Alexandria, serving communities that did not have easy access to higher education in the past. This comes as part of the government’s attempt to increase the number of people enrolled in universities which, according to the feature, stands at only 25%-28% of all high school graduates, and decrease congestion in the bigger universities.

“One of our main priorities is providing access to higher education. We’re in the phase of access rather than the phase of quality at this stage,” Ashraf Hatem, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Universities, told University World News. The number of students enrolling in higher education is expected to rise from 2.5 million to 2.8 million next year.

There has been a marked increase in public funding for universities over the past two years, but this did not bring the much called for increases in university wages. A three-phase increase in academics wages has only seen the first phase implemented, putting the two on hold due to the dire economic situation in the country. University support staff have not seen any increase, as the multiple quick changes in the cabinet left discussions stalled repeatedly.

Student life

For students, things have improved slightly on some fronts but gone down on others. The universities, like the rest of the country, has seen an alarming security vacuum which has given rise to thuggery and attacks within campuses. In fact, Ain Shams University, one of the biggest three universities in the country, closed for two weeks in April after large clashes took place inside the campus, with rock and glass throwing injuring several people.

On the other hand, the students managed to change bylaws which gave them more autonomy in handling their unions, according to the University World News feature. These new laws may, however, have taken the power out of one hand and given it to the unions, rather than increasing freedom for the students.

You can read the full analysis of the state of higher education in Egypt from University World News here