Adequacy, efficiency and equity of higher education financing: The case of Egypt

The massive global growth of private sectors transforms higher education. It naturally sparks great interest and debate. But analysis lags far behind, as does cross-national documentation. Promoters glorify roles (e.g., access), while critics demonize roles (e.g., moneymaking). Policy makers tend to hold simple views of what private higher education does or what they want it to do, while participants tend to generalize from their own institution. Public discussion thus often revolves around narrow and misleading declarations. The gap is large between self-serving or ill-informed views and more complex reality. Private higher education is least understood where it has just recently become prominent—and that is in much of the world. A few decades ago, private higher education was absent or marginal in most countries. Today, it captures a major or fast-increasing portion of enrollments in Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East and northern and sub-Saharan Africa, East and South Asia, and Latin America. Furthermore, new forms of private

This article aims to analyse the policy shifts in higher education (HE) in Egypt since World War II in terms of the key policies, ideologies, competing policies and consequences of these policies over four policy eras: (1944-1952), (1952- 1970), (1970-1981) and (1981-present). The analytical policy framework used in this article is adapted from the work of Hodgson and Spours (2006). The policy documents referred to in the analysis, where appropriate, are Acts of parliament, influential reports and strategic decisions driven by political and international agendas. Despite the policy shifts in these policy eras, i.e. from ‘education of the elite’, ‘education for all’ to ‘privatisation of education’, the analysis seems to suggest that none of these shifts has been a complete success. This might be the result of the underlying challenges for HE, which the article attempts to unpack. It concludes with a number of suggestions to develop HE in Egypt.

In the News Focus Story “A new day for Egyptian science?” (15 July, p. [278][1]), A. Lawler provides an accurate picture of a nation in dire need of revamping education as it struggles to define itself in the aftermath of the Mubarak dictatorship. Current Egyptian students can enroll only in government-controlled academic programs that serve more than 2.7 million students at public and private universities or public research institutes ([ 1 ][2]). Because of the complexity involved in centrally administering such a large system, quality has been sacrificed for quantity and innovation has been stifled. We believe that decentralization of higher education in Egypt could offer many benefits to students, faculty, and their surrounding communities. Faculty would be free to develop innovative curricula without the current constraints of a centralized approval process ([ 2 ][3]). Research centers could be managed independently, privatized, and/or linked to private-sector industries. The Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education has recently moved toward granting autonomy to university branches in Egypt's rural areas ([ 3 ][4]). This is a step in the right direction that should be expanded to give full independence to Egypt's universities. Pursuing a decentralization strategy would provide new opportunities for independent universities. They could adopt innovative management procedures and develop creative financial strategies that complement academic programs and research goals with academe and the private sector working closely together. Ultimately, such restructuring would boost Egypt's global competitiveness and serve as a model for the Middle East as the ripple of effects of the Arab Spring spread throughout the region. 1. [↵][5] 1. R. I. Selim, 2. M. El-Halawany Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, “Guide to Higher Education in Egypt,” R. I. Selim, M. El-Halawany, Eds. (2007); [www.mohe-casm.edu.eg/Main\_menu/version/daleel\_talem_aaly/English.pdf][6]. 2. [↵][7] World Bank, “Higher Education Reform in the Middle East and North Africa” (World Bank, Report No. 62651, Washington, DC, 2011), vol. 1. 3. [↵][8] Egyptian Higher Education Report Team, “Higher education in Egypt: Country background report summary” (Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, El Giza, Egypt, 2008). [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6040/278.summary [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #ref-3 [5]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [6]: http://www.mohe-casm.edu.eg/Main_menu/version/daleel_talem_aaly/English.pdf [7]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text [8]: #xref-ref-3-1 View reference 3 in text

“O’n” University established in Egypt about 5000 years ago is the oldest university in history. Al-Azhar University, founded by the Fatimids in 970 AD, is one of the oldest operating universities in the world. In the modern history, through donations by the Egyptians, the first national Egyptian university, Cairo University, was founded in 1908. In Egypt, currently (April 2015) there are 23 public universities, 23 private universities and hundreds of higher institutes. These together with Al-Azhar University has about two and half million students and a yearly admission of about half a million students. This makes higher education system in Egypt one of the largest and most diverse in the region, but it still has great potential for development and growth. In this chapter, higher education in Egypt and its development are discussed in the context of the country’s political system changes, security situation and socioeconomic background. Twelve figures and two tables support information in the chapter. Structure and regulatory framework of higher education are explained; the absence of the problem of gender disparity and some achievements of females in higher education identified and numerous different aspect of Internationalisation of Higher Education are specified. The answer for the question of foreign students, Why study in Egypt? As provided by QS Top Universities is given, together with the potential for opening new foreign universities or branches for international universities that provide quality education in Egypt. Development initiatives of Higher Education in Egypt that took place in two phases are described. Establishing the first accreditation agency in the region, National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE) is one of the outcomes the first phase (2002-2007). The second phase (2007-2012) achieved numerous developments in education, scientific research and innovations through the Programme of Continuous Improvement and Qualifying for Accreditation (PCIQA) and its Competitive Projects and Awards components. It is shown how the impact of the higher education development has extended to the Egyptian society and economy and was not limited to Egypt, but was transferred producing higher education developments in many other countries in the region. The higher education developments in the previous years leading up to the Arab Spring were one of the main enablers of crucial influence for the uprising. However, as the Arab Spring turned out to be a windy one, in the short term it had adverse effects on almost nearly every aspect of development in Egypt, including higher education. The chapter ends with optimistic forecast, with reasons, that Egypt will regain the momentum and start developing and continue enlightening the world.

The historical background of higher education in Egypt, the present organizational structure, as well as current challenges and constraints are described to anchor an assessment of the strategies for educational reform which are presently underway. Higher education in Egypt witnessed uncontrolled growth throughout the decade of the 1970s until 1983 when several reforms were initiated. Three broad goals have been targeted: containing enrollments through new admissions policies and testing practices; improving program quality by updating curriculum and focusing on important learning outcomes; and promoting responsible fiscal management by developing management information systems, training administrators in their use, and exploring cost recovery from various sources. This article addresses the progress of these reforms to date, makes recommendations for their fuller development and implementation, and offers comments on their significance to other developing nations.

A comparative research study was undertaken on Quality Assurance Systems (QAS) in higher education in Egypt and the United Kingdom to identify different implementation mechanisms for quality assurance in higher education institutions. The principal data sources are based on document analyses about both Egyptian and the United Kingdom higher education institutions, quality assurance agencies, and governments. The findings showed slight variations in the scope of applying their Quality assurance system mechanisms in terms of their process, funding, Institutional autonomy, accountability, and, accordingly, universities' efficiency. This concludes that the reform that could contribute to the quality assurance system regarding funding, governance, and application in higher education in Egypt may lead to better higher education outcomes and institutional internal and external competitiveness.

Higher education is very important in today'smodern society. To promote equal opportunity to access higher education,several countries, including Egypt, have long implemented egalitarian policiesto allow equitable access to it. Some studies, examining trends of gender biasin higher education, provided evidence of improvement during the past fewdecades. This enhancement, however, failed to reduce the sex segregation in thelabour market, and hence returns to education. Many studies attributed thisparadox to gender differentiation by field of study, particularly along thehumanistic-scientific dimension. Barone (2011), however, suggested thecare-technical dimension to contribute, as a second dimension, in theexplanation of the association between gender and field of study. Since noresearch on this important topic has been conducted in Egypt, the current studyaims to investigate gender distribution by field of study in higher education inEgypt since the 1952 revolution. To achieve this objective, the study firstreviews prior literature to identify the trend in female higher education enrolmentin the Egyptian context across four historical time periods characterized bysignificant changes in the social, economic, and educational circumstances.Next, the study investigates gender bias in higher education across the fourtime periods and nine fields of study using a sample of 3826 respondents fromthe latest round of the Egypt Labour Market Panel Survey (ELMPS 2012).Multinomial logistic regression results suggest that the expansion in highereducation enrolment as a result of the adopted egalitarian policies wereaccompanied with an increase in female enrolment percentage since the 1952 Egyptianrevolution. Moreover, there is a trend toward gender parity for most fields ofstudy because the degree of gender imbalance varies considerably within thehumanistic-scientific dimension, providing some support for the argument madeby Barone (2011). A supplementary analysis investigates the gender distributionby faculty social prestige in Egypt. Results contend that females are becomingover-represented in higher education in Egypt but do not hold an advantage inthe high prestige faculties.

Chat-bot as an (AI) technology has taken great attention in recent years and especially in the education sector. before applying such new technology. it is vital to Understand the determinates that affect the behaviour intention for a student to accept or reject this technology in higher education, to understand this behaviour intension, the current research applied the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) with excluding for two moderators from the original model which are experience and Voluntariness of use. Additionally, this research excluded facilitating conditions and behaviour use as it aimed to investigate only the intension behaviour of the students. This study also aimed to examine the role of demographic factors (gender and age) effect on the model research independent variables and the behaviour intension variable. Therefore, the researcher put the objectives of the study that are represented in, developing a framework for the acceptance of chat-bot technology on the behaviour intension of students in higher education in Egypt. To achieve these objectives, the researcher collects data about the required variables by making a questionnaire. This questionnaire targeted students at the Arab academy for science and technology and maritime transport (AASTMT). AASTMT was selected because it represents one of the oldest private universities in Egypt that apply artificial intelligence technology in its educational system. The final sample consisted of 385 responses. data were analyzed through data testing, descriptive analysis, correlations, regression, and structural equation modelling (SEM). Results indicated a significant impact of performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence on students' behaviour intention to accept the chat-bot technology in their higher education in Egypt. Moreover, the results have shown that there is no moderating role of demographic factors (gender and age) proved in the relation between performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and behaviour intention

This study compared how, over time, the centralization of Islamic Higher Education affected educational quality, probity of school management and general levels of and appreciation for knowledge. This research involved comparing characteristics of Egyptian Islamic Higher Education at three pivotal points in time: the early medieval period (623-1300s C.E.); the 15th century; and the period of British and French colonization (the 19th and 20th centuries). The logic behind choosing these particular time periods for comparison was that they represented times of significant centralization/decentralization of Egyptian Islamic Higher Education. Upon analysis of the effects of centralization and de-centralization, it has been found that the centralization of Islamic Higher Education in Egypt has had negative effects. It was found that, over time, the centralization of Islamic Higher Education played a central role in decreasing educational quality, increasing corruption, and decreasing general levels of and appreciation for Islamic knowledge.

This study examines the historical roots of higher education in Egypt, highlighting its evolution from ancient times to the modern era. The origins can be traced to the rich intellectual traditions of ancient Egypt and the renowned Library of Alexandria, which served as a center for scholarship. The establishment of Al-Azhar University in the 10th century marked a significant milestone, positioning Egypt as a key hub for Islamic education and scholarship. The 19th and 20th centuries introduced Western educational models, leading to the creation of modern universities, such as Cairo University in 1908, which emphasized secular and diverse curricula. This evolution reflects broader socio-political transformations, including colonialism and national identity movements. Today, Egypt's higher education system continues to navigate the interplay between its historical legacy and contemporary challenges, striving for innovation and global integration.

A number of reasons have been proposed for the poor quality of higher education in the Arab world, including the poor incentive structures of public higher education institutions. The expansion of private higher education has been hailed as an important part of enhancing incentives and thus improving education quality. However, it is not clear whether the practices of private higher education institutions differ from those of public institutions. This article explores whether private provision improves the quality of higher education, as measured by pedagogy, accountability, and student perceptions of quality. The analysis focuses on commerce and information technology programs in Egypt and Jordan. The results indicate that pedagogy, accountability, and student perceptions of quality do not vary systematically by type of higher education institution in these countries and that expanding the role of private institutions in higher education is therefore unlikely to automatically improve educational processes or quality.

Purpose – This study aims to analyze the quality of the Egyptian accreditation system. With a view on the high competition in the domestic labor market as well as with regards to the international competitiveness of Egyptian graduates and the potential role of Egyptian universities in the international market for higher education, a high quality of study programmes and the provision of skills which meet the employers’ needs is a pressing issue for policymakers in Egypt, in particular in the light of the recent and ongoing transformation process. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a triangulation of document analysis and semi-structured interviews, the authors analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the system of accreditation as well as current measures to improve quality in higher education and provide policy implications for further action undertaken by Egyptian policymakers to improve the accreditation system. Findings – First, the authors provide a sound overview of the newly established accreditation system in Egypt and analyze the role of the National Authority of Educational Quality Assurance and Accreditation within this process. Second, the paper addresses the structural shortcomings as well as implementation problems of the current accreditation system which limit the capacity of the national accreditation agency to provide accreditation for all institutions of higher education in Egypt and to ensure the overall quality of higher education. The role of peer reviewers is of pivotal importance in this context. A specific problem which has not been analyzed so far is the role of religious institutions, the so-called Al-Azhar institutions, in the accreditation process, and the consequences this will have for further developments in accreditation. Practical implications – The paper concludes with providing policy implications at the backdrop of the ongoing political transformation process in Egypt. Originality/value – The paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Egyptian accreditation system and contributes to the understanding of the pivotal role of peer reviewers in this process. Also, for the first time, the challenges regarding accreditation of Al-Azhar institutions are targeted.

This chapter considers the effectiveness of higher education in Egypt in equipping graduates with understandings and skills for life, work and further learning. The chapter assesses the available information about the quality of higher education inputs, processes and outputs. Particular attention is given to the fitness of Egyptian higher education for the purpose of meeting local, national and international labour market needs. Initiatives to improve educational quality and standards in Egyptian higher education are examined in the light of developments in international practice, and recommendations are made for increasing capacity and performance.

This work examines engineering education in Egypt provided by state (government funded) universities. There have been concerns from all stakeholders about the graduates’ knowledge and skills. The chronic problems with higher education in Egypt in general have been previously reported in the Literature, but this paper provides insights form engineering academics with many years of experience in Egyptian engineering education and a fresh look from a business perspective at the phenomenon. In this manuscript, the institutions are analyzed using the integrated business anatomy model, in order to identify the underlying causes of the problems observed. The structural, operational and environmental (both external and internal) challenges that lead to the current status are clearly detected. The analysis highlighted several constraints that hinder radical reforms. Amongst these constraints is the legal and organizational framework in which the state funded universities operate. Other social, technological and economic factors also play important parts. The recipe for improvement provided by the authors has taken all these elements into consideration. This work hopes to provide focus and direction for future reform efforts.

With the advancement of information technology, the digital transformation of higher education has become a global trend in educational reform. Egypt has propelled the modernization of its higher education system through digital means, focusing on enhancing teachers’ digital teaching capabilities, improving course quality, and establishing a policy environment that supports digital instruction. The driving forces behind Egypt’s transformation include meeting the demand for skilled talent due to economic reforms, participating in internationalization processes, and the impetus provided by public diplomacy. By introducing high-quality international resources, deepening scientific research collaboration, and applying digital technologies, Egypt has effectively alleviated issues of resource insufficiency and uneven development, thereby enhancing its capacity for higher education quality assurance. Egypt’s practice demonstrates that digitalization is a key pathway for developing countries to improve the quality of higher education, providing valuable insights for constructing sustainable models of higher education development.