Your Opportunities for Rescue (9) Private and National Universities The Opportunity and the Ordeal

Your Opportunities for Rescue (9)

Private and National Universities

The Opportunity and the Ordeal
By Hossam Badrawy
In previous articles, I discussed opportunities in higher education, and Egypt’s Vision 2030 in it to develop education in all its forms and stages within the framework of developing the Egyptian person.

Higher education is the train of development and has its rules, and all sectors of society have responsibilities towards it.

I explained the role of the private sector, its types and history, and referred to the ordeal from afar. I ended the article by finding solutions to the challenges, while expressing my astonishment and surprise at the state’s behavior sometimes towards higher education policies that may not be in line with the constitution or Vision 2030, and I have hope in the current minister’s broad understanding and his acceptance of criticism and advice without sensitivity, which I commend.

Unlike many, I see the right of qualified and prepared youth to higher education as a constitutional right that does not require financial solvency or family spending to obtain it.

I see that providing institutional funding for students to obtain this opportunity is a basic right for them.

We must not forget that there is a gap in the availability of higher education that must be bridged because the percentage of our youth who obtain it is between 33 and 38% and the country’s vision is to provide this education to 50% of this group.

I remind readers that higher education and higher vocational education is the locomotive of development and I always return to the saying of Dr. Taha Hussein:

“The university does not only form the scholar, but also the cultured, civilized man who is not enough to be cultured, but is concerned with being a source of culture, and it is not enough to be civilized, but is concerned with being a promoter of civilization. If the university falls short in achieving one of these two traits, then it is not worthy of being a university.

He also says, “Illiteracy is not only the illiteracy of reading and writing, but it is also the illiteracy of reading, writing and understanding. He who does not understand becomes a prisoner of those who provide him with incomplete or distorted knowledge and take possession of his mind.”

It is as if he was putting the philosophy of expanding knowledge, building character and the ability to choose that makes people, makers of civilization, before our eyes.

He moved on to the main topic of the article, which is the relationship between the private sector and higher education.

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

The state owns the land, services, and human wealth in its public university, which it has spent on and invested in, and the private sector owns the sources of funding that do not burden the state budget. This partnership can achieve multiple goals and presents a model in which the investor recovers his money after a number of years and achieves a return on it, or may agree to endow it for the educational institution. The state, which owns the land and human wealth, can use its share in the partnership to provide education for those who have the mental and academic ability, but lack the financial ability. This expansion is subject to study, and can accommodate the dream of a win-win for all parties: the state, the investor, the student and society.

Now, what is the role that this sector plays in education in general, and in higher education in particular? Private commercial education that aims to obtain tuition fees that finance the management of the private university, and then achieve a commercial return from which profits can be distributed to shareholders is a form that, no matter how much it expands, will not be able to accommodate more than a specific number of young people. These universities, after 29 years of starting their model, do not accommodate, as I mentioned, more than about 6.2% of the total number of students at this stage. This form of the private sector in higher education should be dealt with in a way that guarantees the rights of its shareholders, and in a way that guarantees the rights of the citizen before that. Therefore, I have put forward some recommendations that I see as necessary to achieve this dual goal, which I summarize as follows.

(First) The obligation of the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Authority in Education, which we have strived to establish, to perform its role in evaluating these universities, as this will give society confidence that all universities in Egypt are subject to a unified system for evaluating performance and ensuring quality, periodically and organized and within the framework of international evaluation standards. Thus, we protect society on the one hand and protect private universities from accusations that are generalized to everyone, taking with them the good and the bad in one cage.

(Second) Focusing on and advocating the importance of expanding the ownership base of shares in these universities, instead of sole or family ownership, and encouraging the private sector to do so, and the state blessing this trend.

(Third) Defining the responsibilities of both the owner of the capital and the academic and daily management of the university, so that freedom is available in making academic and daily administrative decisions for those in charge of work at the university, without interference from the owner of the capital or his representative, and in a way that achieves the university’s mission and the efficiency of the educational service provided to students. This applies to the state as the owner of governmental or semi-private universities.

(Fourth) The state’s supervision of private education should not be translated at any time as controlling the flexibility and freedom of these universities to innovate, create and differ from stereotypical systems. There is a difference between the organizer and the auditor to ensure the achievement of objectives, and the controller and the intervenor with the aim of political control or preventing competition by intervening in favor of the state-owned educational institutions of old under the name of government universities or new educational institutions under the name of private universities. The state must maintain its role in organizing and auditing and avoid being a competitor at the same time.

In the end, we must look at universities from a different perspective, as the diversity and difference of ownership should not affect the standards of judgment and evaluation of the institution, because in all cases, universities, regardless of ownership, must enjoy academic independence and be evaluated impartially by the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Authority. I repeat that we must defend the right to academic independence from political authority or commercial economic authority, which is a concept that does not make us look at universities from the perspective of ownership, but from the perspective of quality of performance, the extent of the graduate’s ability to adapt to the labor market, continue learning, and above all, his ability to create civilization, develop culture, and participate in shaping the future of his country.