9 - 15 May 2002
Issue No.585
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 9 - 15 May 2002 Issue No.585 |
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Looking over private universities shoulders
Will the amendments to the legal framework for private universities improve their regulation? Mona El-Nahhas listens to the debate
Recent amendments to the procedures for implementing the law governing private universities have revived the debate surrounding private higher education.
Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Higher Education's private universities' committee, headed by Minister Mufid Shehab, amended the 35-article executive statute governing private universities.
Amendments target admissions, the appointment of presidents and boards of trustees and the procedures for establishing new universities. Changes to the executive statute also deal with the body that oversees private universities, replacing the private universities' committee with the private universities' council.
The council will have the same powers over the institutions it supervises as the governmental universities' higher council which supervises public higher institutions. Accordingly, the new council will be given wider authorities than the private universities' committee. In addition to matters pertaining to the operation of the institutions, the council is also charged with assessing the performance of private universities.
In 1992 a law was passed laying the groundwork for private universities. Then in 1996 four institutions were established by presidential decree, namely, Misr International University, Sixth of October University, the University of Modern Sciences and Arts and Misr University for Sciences and Technology.
The rationale behind allowing private sector involvement in higher education was that it would ease the burden on state universities, which are faced with many more applicants than they can accommodate. However, education experts argue that the universities were established far too hastily and that the regulatory framework was inadequate.
Explaining the goals of the process undertaken by the Ministry of Higher Education, consultant to the ministry Hamed Taher said, "The aim [of the amendments] is to discipline private universities and put an end to the state of anarchy which has reached a high point."
Presidents of the four private universities and chairmen of their boards of trustees took part in the process to amend the statute, together with representatives of the new French and German universities, which are still being established.
The amended statute is to be submitted to the cabinet for final approval and is expected to be in place for the coming academic year.
Presidents of the four universities welcomed the amendments, saying that they believed they would better regulate university boards of trustees and increase the stability of university administration.
Mahmoud Naguib, president of Misr International University, told Al-Ahram Weekly, "the [executive] statute includes regulations that will help upgrade the quality of education at private universities."
Consultant to the ministry Taher emphasised the matter of stability. "University presidents were easily dismissed at any time according to the mood and whims of the boards of trustees." He added that under the amended statute, a board of trustees can only dismiss a university president after he has completed a four-year term or by obtaining permission from the minister of higher education.
University boards of trustees, many of whom are part owners of the institutions, were less enthusiastic about the statute. They contend that it will permit the state undue influence in universities' internal affairs.
Nawal El-Degwi, chairwoman of the board of the trustees of the Modern Science and Arts University, expressed reservations about certain articles of the statute. "The state has every right to supervise the educational process at private universities, keeping in mind that there is big difference between supervision and interference, and between private and state-owned universities," El- Degwi told the Weekly.
Taher responded to such criticisms saying, "They [private universities] still have every right to establish new faculties, choose the president and staff and to determine annual fees. We just supervise their performance to make sure that profit is not the sole aim of such universities."
An oft repeated criticism of private universities is that they put profit ahead of quality by admitting more students than they can accommodate. Taher said, "The number of teaching staff is insufficient. Laboratories are not well-equipped. Teaching hospitals annexed to private faculties of medicine do not allow students to get good clinical training."
Meanwhile, opposition to private universities on more philosophical grounds continues in some quarters. Such critics say that private higher education is at odds with the principles of the 1952 Revolution which calls for equal access to educational opportunities for all citizens. By allowing private universities to operate, critics contend, a two-tier system is effectively set up under which the wealthy have access to a higher quality education.
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