The opportunity to rescue (8) Expanding the availability of higher education Agreed upon logic and a disputed approach

The opportunity to rescue (8)
Expanding the availability of higher education
Agreed upon logic and a disputed approach
Only about 34% of Egyptians in the age group between 18-23 years are enrolled in the Egyptian higher education system, and Egypt’s vision specifies that the enrollment rate will reach 45% in 2030, with a total enrollment of about 3 million students or more. In order to bridge this major gap, as the expected increase in the number of the targeted youth population among the population, the number of students expected to be in universities and higher institutes after ten years will be more than four million male and female students. These expansion projects must be carefully planned, especially when it comes to existing institutions, as expansion in them in the past has led to a deterioration in the level of quality, a decline in administrative efficiency, and the emergence of multiple forms of corruption. The logic of expanding higher education and providing opportunities for aspiring Egyptian youth faces a challenge from a segment of political community leaders who are embarrassed to link the increase in the number of higher education graduates to unemployment, as if this expansion in the future will occur without expected economic growth and increased available job opportunities. Here we must realize that achieving the goals of the vision is intertwined between the parties to sustainable development. This sector of politicians also sees nothing but the deterioration of the higher education product that will continue without improvement, which in our view evades confronting the improvement of the quality of performance of universities and higher institutes, which will in turn lead to the graduates of these institutions being job creators and initiators in the future to build and lead businesses, not just job seekers. We must not forget that higher education graduates are the leaders and pioneers of the future, and we compete for leadership in the region with our human capabilities that are being built in these institutions. The challenge of expanding higher education also faces a narrow vision that sees the expansion of technical education as an alternative to higher education and does not see it as part of it. This is an approach that ignores the fact that about 50% of our youth after the preparatory stage are now in school technical education institutions, and they suffer more than others from the low level of pre-university education and the skills acquired for professional competence. Amending the vision of higher education to include some trends in technical education, vocational training and technology makes the expansion balanced and allows a wider space for expansion outside the scope of traditional universities. It is in line with raising the value of higher technical education within the framework of an integrated vision for the national qualifications framework, which is what we see the state striving for and what we support. The current situation is that only about 40% of our youth go to the civil secondary stage, and if higher education is not expanded, we are depriving these youth of their rights and even wasting development opportunities in Egypt, not to mention the inability to solve the bottleneck of high school without expanding admission to higher education in its various forms while opening the way for youth to exit and enter it at any age, and this must come in support of continuing education, which represents the backbone of continued progress. The question remains, can the state alone carry out these expansion works while maintaining the quality of education? The answer in this context is definitely no. So who can do that? Such a challenge requires:

1- Unconventional stimulation of private sector non-profit initiatives.

2- Organizing private sector investments that are partially or fully for profit in a transparent manner.

3- The state should consider its ownership of land as a share in educational investment, which reduces the cost to the investor and is reflected in the cost of education for students and attracts investment without exaggeration.

In this context, institutions, whether affiliated with the public or private sector, should not be established unless they are capable of providing a higher level of quality. I believe that public and private sector initiatives can lead development in the current period, and the state can create a suitable climate for development.

Within the framework of the state assuming its responsibilities towards higher education owned by the people, it is necessary to:

First: Respect the independence of academic universities and their self-management, and not to deal with university professors as employees, but with conditional contracts according to the needs of their colleges.

Second: In this case, the state must double the governmental and social funding directed to governmental higher education, once every three years, over the next nine years, and the state must determine the value of the budgets that each student needs through his studies, which the state will provide him.

Third: Pay special attention to universities that engage in research activities at a global level and double their budgets.

Fourth: Increase the efficiency of using available resources within higher education institutions. (Governance/good governance), and getting rid of excess administrative and academic labor Fifth: Maximizing the benefits that knowledge and societal advantages bring to these institutions, and ensuring that this is reflected on the institution itself and its workers. In order to achieve such tasks, higher education institutions should have more independence (self-management) and at the same time be interested in seeking to strengthen their links in an organized manner with regional and international institutions and networks. In any case, these institutions must be:
Financially responsible.

Subject to strict accreditation systems, and to accurate oversight to ensure quality.

Committed to institutional integrity charters.

The government’s commitment to higher education does not mean that all higher education institutions should be owned and managed by the government. This would transfer all the cultural corruption inherent in the public sector and its practice to these institutions to varying degrees. In my view, such institutions should be managed by independent boards, with four-way representation from the state, civil society, academia, and the private sector. This is a concept that can be developed and other stakeholders can be added in various ways. The representation ratios may also need to be discussed to ensure a relative balance between these parties. However, this new circle that is supposed to replace the government needs to be developed and advanced so that the issue of holding such institutions accountable to society becomes a realistic issue. Based on the above, in my opinion, the matter requires a transitional period of up to five years to build the capacities of these representative bodies, and we believe that during this period these representatives can be appointed by the state in a transparent manner and based on announced criteria, and with an agreement between the academic community and the state on the selection methods, and most importantly within a specific time frame.. I repeat that I encourage the participation of the private sector in providing higher education services, but with the knowledge that it is not an alternative to the role of the state. The private sector in education may be criticized for attracting young people from financially capable families regardless of their abilities and competence, which gives an opportunity to those with financial capabilities without taking into account equal opportunities and social justice, which is in fact the function of the state and not the founders of these universities. If it were not for the inefficiency of government universities and their inability to absorb demand, private universities would not have emerged in the first place. In general, as long as they are legal institutions and have legitimacy, their existence must be respected and supported within the framework of a clear vision of their role. We know that the current capacity of private for-profit education to absorb only represents less than 7% of the total number of students in Egyptian universities. I see the state’s entry into competition with the private sector in higher education as a strategic mistake. The state is neither a good investor (which has been proven throughout history) nor is it the state’s duty in the first place, even if we give its private institutions names that do not represent their reality. The state should not transform the universities owned by the people into a private sector by fraudulently creating systems to collect money from students.
In general, students and their families should bear part of the cost of higher education through a long-term, interest-free student financing system that is repaid only when the graduate works after graduation (examples and systems are available in other countries).

Therefore, I see the partnership between the state and the private sector in building new higher education institutions as a model that may be a compromise between the private sector, which aims for profit, and the civil sector, which depends entirely on donations, gifts and endowments, which usually arise from the accumulation of wealth in the private sector within the framework of sustainable economic growth, which I see happening in Egypt within two decades, during which we will not be able to wait without taking action.