Scholars at large

By Mariz Tadros

Photographer Randa Shaath captures images from the first day of the fall semester at Cairo University. Left: clustered near the door to the Faculty of Literature, students discuss their course schedule -- or their summer vacation. Right: it's a long walk back to class

"Medical school is different from other faculties, because the process of learning and training never stops. Doctors are supposed to undergo proper training with the Ministry of Health after graduating," notes El-Sayed. Demand for doctors should also be taken into account, he emphasises. "The failure to heed these two factors only indicates the absence of sound planning and the fact that this decision was taken in a rather haphazard manner."

El-Sayed points out that the Syndicate has received many complaints from members of the public accusing doctors of malpractice and negligence. One explanation is that there are just too many medical students for universities and other institutions to cope.

El-Sayed accuses the minister of having taken a "political stand to appease the thousands of students who have got very high marks and who want to get into medical school". Such a decision, he claims, only jeopardises the quality of education and the students' future employment prospects.

Overcrowding, however, is a problem for all branches of higher education.

Fouad Abu Hatab, a professor at Ain Shams University's Faculty of Education, believes this problem is merely a "temporary situation". He argues that the new high school diploma is to blame. Students in the last two years of secondary school sat their exams at the end of the year, and were then allowed to improve their grades by taking a second round of exams. Only the highest grade is taken into account. Optional subjects push grades up even higher. This means, absurdly, that many students receive marks higher than 100 per cent. "Now what are we supposed to tell those students: that their grades are too low? The Ministry of Higher Education had no option but to accept them," explains Abu Hatab. He believes that the breakdown of marks will be more realistic for 1999, since the make-up system has been canceled. "We must find a viable system which would ensure that only those whose capabilities meet university requirements be accepted," he explains. But the system will remain clogged up as long as masses of students continue to seek places at universities -- as long, in other words, as higher education continues to be seen as the key to the job market.

Chaotic classrooms and the frantic search for seats; in between lectures, students examine the bulletin board for schedule revisions

One former commerce student who graduated two years ago remembers her university years as "disappointing and futile. I can never forget the sinking feeling one got if one did not arrive in the lecture hall at least a quarter of an hour early. I would just have to spread newspapers on the stairs or in an empty corner on the ground to be able to attend. There were, of course, those naive enough to turn up on time, and they couldn't always attend because there was simply no space. The hall would be packed with hundreds of students." Although she currently works as an accountant, she feels her university education did not equip her with the necessary skills for her job.

Mahmoud El-Naq'a, head of the Ain Shams Centre for the Development of University Education, says universities are not to be blamed for the poor standard of their graduates, since there is only so much teachers can do for students who have not received adequate primary and secondary education. Even if standards were up to par, he argues, young people should not all be enrolling in universities "because the market won't absorb them. There should be more institutes of higher learning to train highly specialised technicians in areas that meet market needs. They should be given the same social status as university graduates, but recognised as students of applied rather than theoretical education," he suggests.

El-Naq'a admits syllabi must be updated and brought into sync with the latest research -- but this failure, too, he blames at least in part on the overwhelming numbers of students.

"When are professors supposed to find the time to sit down and think about reforming the syllabus? We don't have the time or energy for that kind of thing. According to general regulations, we are supposed to be teaching for eight hours a day, so that there is time for research and other tasks, such as updating the syllabi. Unfortunately, many professors spend far more time than that teaching."

El-Naq'a concedes that the quality of teaching has deteriorated, but emphasises: "It's a vicious circle. Professors cannot give each student the attention he deserves, and the students who move on to graduate and post-graduate studies are already mediocre because of their incomplete undergraduate education." For a wide range of reasons, however, many professors let these students pass, and gradually the standard deteriorates even further.

Since the ministry has opted to take in the masses of students competing for university places, one would assume it would provide for a proportionate increase in the higher education budget. While the budget has increased, however, it cannot keep pace with the increase in numbers. In fact, according to a study by economist Nader Fergany, the amount of money spent per person in higher education actually has declined drastically. In 1980, it was $100 per person, in 1990 it was down to less than $50, in 1993, it went down even further, to about $25. This gap has taken its toll on teaching staff and students alike. Professors have often had to moonlight to make a living, and cases of junior lecturers as well as acclaimed professors giving private lessons are not rare. On the other hand, students are no longer given the facilities or the budget which would allow them to work to their full potential.

So while too many students are crowding the campuses, they are just one of the many problems besieging higher education. The system, perhaps ironically, has been all too successful.

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