The head of the parliament’s education committee Gamal Sheiha said in a meeting on Sunday that the committee will work on amending the provision of appointing university presidents and faculty deans in the universities law. The announcement comes after numerous related positions remain vacant at various institutions in the current academic year.
Sunday’s meeting was one of the three meetings scheduled to discuss education issues on Sunday and Monday.
Sheiha explained that there are 250 dean positions and eight university president positions that have been vacant for months. This hampers the university administration procedures, he added, highlighting that such positions should not even be vacant for a day.
He added that the amendment will be temporary until the mentioned positions are filled. The plan is to comprehensively amend the law next year after further examination of the problem.
The meetings also addressed difficulties faced by Egyptian students in other Arab countries, who have trouble enrolling in governmental universities, despite their high scores.
In 2014, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued a presidential decree to amend certain provisions in the universities law related to the appointment of university deans and heads. The amendments included that Egypt’s president will select and appoint university deans or heads from three professors nominated by the Ministry of Higher Education.
In accordance with the current law, the selected heads and deans are appointed for four years with the possibility of extension. They can also be dismissed from their position before completing their term based on presidential decisions.
