Updating higher education system to prevent cheating

CAIRO – 7 May 2018: “The Ministry of Higher Education plans to transfer the curriculum from books to electronic programs by using computers, in line with the development of the education system in Egypt,” Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar told Egypt Today on Saturday.

“Bubble sheet exams, which are corrected electronically, add a bit of accuracy and justice to the examination process and evaluation, not leaking examinations,” the minister added.

The bubble sheet exam is based mainly on multiple choice questions and "Right" or "Wrong" questions. The questions measure students’ level of understanding, not memorization.

The Ministry of Higher Education decided to not leave any soft copies of the tests no the ministry’s computers and database after printing them outs, in a way to prevent 2016 scandal of secondary schools leakage exams. Over the past two years, many cases of exam leaks have been reported few minutes after time of exams started. The Ministry conducted probe into the leaks but revealed nothing since then.

Khaled Abdel Bari, chairman of Zagazig University, said that the bubble sheet exams fight cheating and achieve fairness in grading, which is done electronically.

Abdel Bari added that his university has completed all its preparations for the end-of-year exams during Ramadan, stressing that exams will end about two and a half hours before the iftar meal to break the fast during the holy month.

At the same anti-fraud procedures, the chairman of Minya University confirmed that all the exam rooms will be monitored by cameras, as well as jamming devices on mobile devices, especially at colleges with large numbers of students.

However, Cairo University President Mohamed Othman Elkhosht told Egypt Today that the Ministry of Higher Education will apply new procedures to prevent exams from being leaked, including deleting copies of the exams from the ministry’s computers and database.

As part of encouraging the Egyptian state to invest in education, the World Bank's board of executive directors unanimously approved supporting Egypt’s national education strategy to develop pre-university education with $500 million, according to a statement from the Investment and International Cooperation Ministry on April 16.

Regarding the field of technical and technological education, Abdel-Ghaffar said in a statement on December 2017 that the state is working on the establishment of eight new technological universities distributed across all governorates.

Under the strategic vision of the ministry for 2030, the state will establish 32 universities in order to provide excellent educational opportunities for students and relieve pressure on the current universities.