Parliament enacts law regulating establishment of foreign universities

CAIRO – 17 July 2018: The Parliament enacted on Monday the law regulating the establishment of foreign universities in Egypt, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel- Ghaffar announced on Tuesday.

The law aims to benefit from the educational and scientific research experiences of international universities to achieve significant progress in the higher education system and to strengthen the ties between Egypt’s higher education and that of developed countries.

Under the law, the international branch of a university shall be committed to Egyptian provisions and shall notify the specialized ministry with the university's curricula; criteria to accept students in a university branch will be the same as those of the main university.

Branch campuses will be required to enroll a percentage of Egyptian students and employ a percentage of Egyptian staff in administrative and teaching positions.
All certificates awarded by the branch shall be recognized in the country of the main university; additionally, there will be an annual allocation of grants to students, allowing Egyptians to study or train at the main foreign university.

Each branch campus is required to submit a five-year plan with the expected number of students and costs; the branch will fall under the supervision of the council set up by the Ministry of Higher Education to monitor quality.

The law stipulates that the foreign university may entrust entities in Egypt through a signed contract to establish its branch in Egypt and afford its operation. The minister of higher education shall establish a committee of representatives of ministries and concerned agencies to consider and study the request to construct the branch.

The decision to allow a new campus will be issued by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research after the university branch meets all infrastructural and human resource requirements.

According to the draft law, the president shall issue a decision on establishing the branch upon the request of the minister of higher education and the approval of the Cabinet.

The branch should include faculties, institutes, research units, study programs, innovation centers and science cities.

The branch campus will pay an annual fee for the services provided by state agencies, which will not exceed 1 percent of the tuition expenses of the students.

The state agencies will provide administrative, security and educational support and will ensure that the foreign university is able to exercise academic and institutional freedom and independence. They will also facilitate the process of equalizing the degrees awarded by the branch campus with those granted by Egyptian universities.

On November 2, the minister of higher education announced during the International Education Conference held in the U.K., entitled “Cross Boundary Education in Egypt and the Chances of Investment in Higher Education”, that the New Administrative Capital will include six international universities from the United States, Britain, Hungary, Canada, Sweden and France.

He added that the government seeks to introduce a “new law for international branch campuses intending to operate in the education destination” and called for UK universities to “invest in the Egyptian market of education”.

He referred that the law will facilitate the licensing process for overseas universities in Egypt and the mobility of the staff, remarking that the law will be “aligned” with the Magna Charta Universitatum, a document containing principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy that has been signed by hundreds of university leaders from across the world.

“We respect academic freedom and university autonomy,” the minister said during his speech, stressing on the good relations between Egypt and the U.K., particularly in the scientific and cultural fields, and the partnerships promoted between Egyptian and English institutions.