Lowering the admission criteria and raising tuition costs are only some of the emerging business practices that cast a shadow on Egypt’s higher education sector.
Lowering the admission criteria and raising tuition costs are only some of the emerging business practices that cast a shadow on Egypt’s higher education sector.
The increasing number of non-government and private universities and institutes in Egypt has raised concerns that education in the country is becoming commodified, potentially at the expense of government universities.
The admission criteria for graduates of the General Secondary Certificate for Egyptian universities in 2022-23 suggest that university education has become a business or a means for the wealthy to obtain degrees.
There is concern that admission rates for the top universities in Egypt – particularly in the areas of medicine, pharmacy, physiotherapy, engineering, economics, and languages – have declined to as low as 70 percent in some universities.
Financial considerations during course selection
The choice of what to study at Egyptian universities often seems to be determined by financial considerations rather than academic merit. Many students, particularly those from wealthier backgrounds, are drawn to the 27 private universities in Egypt that charge high tuition fees, often exceeding 200,000 Egyptian pounds (about US$6,460) per year.
Meanwhile, 20 non-governmental universities have opened in Egypt, with 12 of them constructed under the supervision of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority in major cities such as Cairo and Alexandria.
These non-governmental and private universities – which number 47 across the country, according to the Ministry of Higher Education – admit students with varying academic averages, including up to 75 percent for the faculty of human medicine, 70 percent for pharmacy, 65 percent for engineering, and 60 percent for computer science.
The High Council of Private and Non-Governmental Universities in Egypt, however, recently made the decision to lower admission criteria to 53 percent for various fields of study.
This adjustment affects programs in biotechnology, health sciences, basic sciences, nursing, law, media, languages and translation, economics and management, education, applied arts, social sciences, tourism and hotels, antiquities, and cinematic sciences.
The minimum admission criteria for “business” universities are 30 percent lower than those of government universities. For the faculty of medicine, the admission criteria are 16 percent lower than in government universities, and 20 percent lower for pharmacy and engineering.
Tarek Al Nabarawy, head of the Egyptian Syndicate of Engineers, criticized the Ministry of Higher Education on his Facebook page. He expressed his opposition to the coordination regarding engineering education and criticized the low admission criteria in some private engineering institutes, which are set at only 60 percent.
Egypt’s higher education business practices
Private universities in Egypt often double the bill of expenses and administrative fees for foreign students. They also implement an annual increase that can reach up to 7 percent. This results in annual expenses exceeding half a million Egyptian pounds (US$16,000) and, in some cases, reaching 700,000 pounds (US$22,000) at institutions such as the American University, Misr International University, and October 6 University, among others.
Tuition fees at government universities in Egypt are relatively low, typically around 2,000 Egyptian pounds (US$65) per year. However, these universities have also increasingly adopted business-oriented practices. Since last year, a new system based on accredited hours has been implemented, and students are required to pay their tuition costs in advance before being admitted to universities.
In the 2023 QS World University Rankings, no government, non-government, or private Egyptian university was ranked among the top 500 universities in the world, with the exception of the American University in Cairo, which was ranked at 416th place.
