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Home / 2020 Collective Articles / Hossam Badrawi to Al-Masry Al-Youm: We must benefit from the state’s interest in scientific research (dialogue)

Hossam Badrawi to Al-Masry Al-Youm: We must benefit from the state’s interest in scientific research (dialogue)

At a time when Nile National University is celebrating the graduation of a batch of its students, it is facing a new crisis represented by the Urban Communities Authority’s tendency to withdraw 62% of the land under its hands; What renews her children’s feeling of fear of the future, especially since it is a scenario similar to their clash for months with the city of Zewail, which the judiciary decided nearly three years ago in favor of the Nile.
Despite the trend of the state and President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who is neither overlooked nor ignorant by a visionary nor ignorant of him, for a clear renaissance in the field of education and support for scientific research, those belonging to the “Nile” believe that they are unable to bear those successive shocks, which led to the abandonment of some researchers and university employees in search of its walls. For safer and more stable work.
We conveyed the viewpoint of the university members to one of the most prominent education experts in Egypt; Professor Hossam Badrawi, the international expert in education, professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, and former head of the Education Committee in Parliament, to tell us about the matter, as he described Nile University as the best model that should be repeated, warning against obstructing its path after the successes it provided in a few years.. And the text of the conversation:
■ In the beginning, what is the definition of a private university?
– There is an international academic definition and an Egyptian one, which defines them as non-profit universities and subject to the provisions of the Private and Private Universities Law No. 12 of 2009 and its executive regulations and Law No. 143 of 2019 amending some provisions of the Private and Private Universities Law promulgated by Law No. 12 of 2009. It is affiliated with the Supreme Council of Private Universities And civil, but according to the international definition, the civil university is the one that is established by the people, not the government, and the civil society is the community of citizens, and the civil associations are those that citizens form, finance and manage within the limits of public law. The news that the newspapers showed us about the establishment of ten new private universities in Egypt came after a government meeting at the highest level in which there was no representative of these people who are supposed by definition to be the ones who will establish these universities, and so far we do not know anything about these people who are supposed to They are the owners of those universities, and according to the statement of Prof. Dr. the Minister of Higher Education, it is the government that will provide support to these universities, which is It will reach nearly thirty billion pounds. Rather, he added that some of these private universities will be established by public universities. In fact, I see them as government universities, but with expenses, and affiliated with the Supreme Council of Universities, which has become the controller of all universities, even though the origin of its establishment was a consultative between universities and not a watchdog, in general that is good, because we need a larger number of universities absorb the demand for education.
■ Have private universities in the world contributed significantly to the renaissance of education in their countries, and what are the examples of that?
What citizens do not know is that higher education in European countries is free for their citizens in their universities, and in countries that needed additional funding and imposed expenses that exceed the state budget, such as the United Kingdom, where it established student financing systems so that there is no violation of equal opportunities, foreign students pay the full cost But the people of the country do not impose that on them. In the United States, you will find every state with a public university, but there are also hundreds of private universities that resulted from an economic surplus from the civil society.. Most of these universities such as Harvard, Princeton, Duke, LMIT and others, are all universities. A non-governmental eligibility with expenses, expenses, companies stemming from it, and scientific research that generates a tremendous income that is reinvested in these universities until they become the best providers of higher education in the world.
■ Regarding Nile University, how do you see it today as it faces a new crisis represented in the direction of the Urban Communities Authority to withdraw 62% of its land?
Nile University is a renaissance university, which is the first model for private universities in Egypt and deserves support to occupy its place among the best universities in the world.
The truth is that the university is going on the right path, which the state accepts and wants all private and private universities to follow, but the luck of the Nile University made it subject to major shocks enough to kill it completely. Zewail, may God have mercy on him, and the Supreme Administrative Court rejected the appeal of “Zewail” and “the government” and stopped any work on the university, with obligating the state to return all the rights of the university as it was before its withdrawal and accreditation of the Nile University as a private university. The crisis until the Urban Communities Authority addressed it that it is heading to withdraw more than half of the land it owns. Of course, this is something that worries students, professors, and workers in general. The duty is to create a calm environment that helps creativity and achievement.
■ And why specifically Nile University, from your point of view, which is exposed from time to time to obstacles that can afflict it, as its employees say?
– I do not know a reason for the successive crises of the Nile National University, but all that can be said is that the Urban Communities Authority is not responsible for education and operates through a system established for it by the state, so it will not differentiate from its point of view between a land designated for a university and another for urban activity unless the government obligates it Thus, and I believe that this is the role of the Prime Minister and Nile University is the number one private university in Egypt, as it is not for profit and its management is based on an independent academic and financial administration. The university’s funds are reinvested in the interest of scientific research, raising the level of teaching and completing its academic structure. They get a profit from it in addition to the fact that it does not get any money from the state budget. I say this to make it clear that Nile University is the reality and the model that must be repeated and not limit its expansion, just as the state invests and expands in this kind of environment.
Maat, and is proud to start working in 4 new private universities at a cost of billions of pounds. Including welcome and facilitation of its new projects.
■ With regard to scientific research, what does Egypt lack to catch up with the world in this context?
– Scientific research is the essence of universities’ work, and accordingly, you can say that this university is on the right path.. Therefore, as I see in the mission of Nile University, it is a first-class research university.. The university’s research achievement is judged through scientific research published in periodicals. Scientific research with internationally agreed descriptions, patents, international research agreements and with business sectors where positive work results from it. It is known that scientific research needs funding, continuous effort, focus, laboratories and tools.. And a university that is devoid of scientific research can be considered a major school and nothing more and represents research. Scientific and development is an effective mechanism for advancement and an indispensable pillar of the knowledge society. It is the locomotive supporting development efforts to adapt creative thought that allows Egypt to communicate with the world and keep pace with development to achieve national goals and in the knowledge society.
■ President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the Egyptian state are supportive of scientific research.. How can this ambition be benefited from?
The state’s interest in scientific research is something that must be benefited from and built on, and the state’s ambition can be benefited from by defining the areas of scientific research that serve its plans, such as renewable energy, water, medical and therapeutic sciences, and others, in a decade, and setting budgets, and universities and research centers compete for that, that is, to spend The budgets of scientific research are competitive.. There is no objection to motivating research-producing universities to increase their budgets, and I assure that Nile University is able to achieve President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s vision “2030” in developing education, and moving the country to progress and technology.
Dr. Abdel Moneim Said, Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Al-Masry Al-Youm”, a representative in the Senate, had indicated in an article published in “Al-Ahram” newspaper on August 19, 2020, that it is not a secret to anyone that the world is now going through a wild scientific and technological revolution, and it is not hidden On the Egyptians, we were late in catching up with the first and second industrial revolutions, and when the third came to us, we were content with amazement and fascination, and when the fourth came, the world seemed hopeless to catch up. Now we are trying to catch up with all this through a developed infrastructure that has appeared in roads, tunnels, cities and power stations, while modernizing the social and health infrastructure in the country in advanced forms. In order not to surprise us with another fifth revolution as it is currently in view, the basic structure to deal with all of this is based on three legs: the digitization of the state and the modernization of its administrative apparatus, an educational revolution that produces sound thinking and innovation, and a broad infrastructure for scientific and technological research. In this last structure there are universities, and at the forefront of them are the universities of scientific research, where there is the Nile University, which, although it performs the same task that other universities do in educating new generations, its main field is scientific research and the graduation of new generations of researchers who are capable of creativity and innovation along the lines of Those in the United States, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).