There are winds of change in Egypt and, for that matter, throughout the Arab world. After days and nights of tension, anxiety, and determination, the regime of Hosni Mubarak has collapsed and an opportunity for a democratic transition has emerged. Certainly, the recent developments in Egypt provide an opportunity for a serious national discussion about the challenges faced in Egyptian society and the role that higher education has to play in this new environment.
Two years ago I was part of an international team of observers from Egypt and different parts of the world, convened by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank, which, at the invitation of the Egyptian government, conducted an extensive independent review of its higher-education system. Participating in this reflection gave our group the opportunity to visit higher-education institutions in many parts of the country, and to interact with students, faculty members and administrators, as well as representatives from government, business, and community-based organizations. Our final product was a report with reflections and recommendation for the higher-education system of Egypt that was published by OECD less than a year ago.
The OECD report stressed the urgency for Egypt to improve its economic competitiveness through advanced human-capital formation and smart innovation. There was a consensus among the OECD team members, drawn from the candid perspectives of those with whom we interacted that Egypt’s system of higher-education needs to expand and raise its level of quality while catering more effectively and equitably to a diverse student population. Some of the deficiencies of the Egyptian higher-education system identified in the report were that graduates lacked the skills required by the labor market, research was disconnected from the national innovation system, the higher-education system was too narrow and rigid, policy and financial frameworks required change, institutional governance didn’t have a strategic vision and that national steering mechanisms were fragmented. National and international comparative data supported these findings.
A unique characteristic of Egypt is that 97 percent of the population lives on just 5 percent of the total land mass corresponding to the Nile Valley and the Nile Delta. This feature certainly poses a critical challenge for a country that is heavily overpopulated. Higher education has been expanding and will continue to expand in future years given that a third of the population is under the age of 15 and that there has been a resurgence in fertility rates in recent years. However, Egypt’s GDP is only $1,800 per capita per year and the country exhibits wide socio-economic disparities. One of the key challenges faced in the country, and surely reflected in the massive demonstrations preceding the fall of the Mubarak regime, is that overall employment growth has been low in recent years, causing informal employment to reach 61 percent in 2006, with university graduates, who are heavily affected by the lack of job opportunities, making up much of the informal sector.
Of course, the Egyptian story is no different than the one present in many countries. However, everyone I have met in Egypt is very candid in recognizing that the system of higher education requires urgent changes. The recent events in Egypt open an opportunity for Egyptian society and its higher-education institutions to foster such change. My hope is that this will happen.
