Being the Dean of Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, and having an incomparable rich experience in the educational filed for more than 20 years, and collecting various national and international awards, MEO is delighted to present to its readers this extremely beneficial interview with Dr. Sherif Shaheen, which tackles crucial topics related to the Egyptian educational sector development.
Can you please explain to us more the current developmental educational plan set by the Egyptian ministry of education?
The Egyptian Ministry of Education represented by Dr. Tarek Shawky, Minister of Education and Technical Education has been exerting tremendous efforts to improve the Egyptian educational system over the past few years.
One of the most significant major educational projects that the sector has witnessed is the knowledge bank, this tremendous educational project that is presenting the most up to date sources of academic scholars, and simply making it easily accessible to every single student living in Egypt for free.
Britannica, Elsevier and other International academic publishers publications are mostly available through the knowledge bank.
This is a unique step that the ministry of education has taken early enough to be the first revolutionary step in the educational sector.
Furthermore, one of the main areas that needed to be revolutionized was starting to incorporate the online platform within the Egyptian educational system, with the aim of allowing educational material’s access online and facilitating communication between the student and the professor.
The ministry is keen to make all online educational content accessible to all students, and established an alternative solution for students who are unable to use computers or laptops, which is the electronic tablet. As for solving the problem of internet penetration in some areas in Egypt, the ministry is currently taking the necessary protocols to distribute the tablets with the downloaded educational content, so the student will not need to have internet access.
In a nutshell the online educational platform is finding its own way into Egypt, however, problems as electricity & internet penetration in some remote areas need to be tackled.
These steps were crucial in order to prepare our students for moving onto higher education; in my opinion, it is a must!
Nevertheless, the Covid-19 crisis already gave us no option except pushing us forward towards establishing a strong online educational platform in Egypt. In fact the higher education in Egypt, for many years has been witnessing a horizontal expansion, however I believe there should be a vertical expansion along with the horizontal one. Meanwhile, primary education is witnessing a vertical expansion which is actually not an easy task.
What is your recommendation to face the main challenges that are present within the Egyptian educational sector?
Well I believe there must be more attention given to the development plan assigned for governmental universities, we must continue needed training for university professors, in order to master the incorporation process of technological facilities within the educational sector.
For instance, currently, professors of the Faculty of Graduate Studies of Education at Cairo university are taking intensive training related to incorporating blackboard as a very useful online educational tool, and the same professors who attended the training will actually train their colleagues and the rest of professors, and let me inform you that now almost 18 sections within the university are mastering blackboard usage.
Another main area that must be given more attention is the process of admitting paper requests within the educational sector, I believe it must be computerized, we need to get rid of the bureaucratic routine of how to process paper requests; digital alternative solutions must be applied, like microfilms for instance. This will even make the archiving process an easier process; and the good news is that we are already starting this digitization process in the Faculty of arts at Cairo University. As well I do believe that the monopoly of the industry of educational books over the market has to be tamed by giving a good push to the new horizon of online educational content and digitalization.
Are there any student activities taking place at Cairo University, bearing in mind that the university is not working with full capacity?
Though Cairo University is not working with full capacity, our faculty of Arts is resuming all its activities including the guitar school, fine art sessions, and sports activities are all taking place.
What potential do the newly established Universities, such as Galala University, King Salman International University and El Alamein University, bear ?
Well, as a contributing member in many educational committees that are setting the plan for the establishment of new universities in Egyptian cities, I would say that establishing new universities in different cities is for sure an extremely smart move.
First it will create a competitive atmosphere within the higher education arena; and it will actually give a push to the developmental plan of governmental universities, as the competition will be a tough one.
Second, this move will sure encourage resettlements of inhabitants in other cities, as the government was keen to establish all the vital facilities for students and their families in order to secure their stay in various cities.
Already, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, is planning for more expansion, as the plan is establishing 10 new universities scattered around different cities.
I would say that one of my core recommendations for new universities is giving undivided attention to libraries; I believe there must be a shift within this sector; libraries should not be depending solely on buildings & shelves, we need to be up to date & definitely more open on worldwide online libraries.
On the other hand, there must be more cooperation between various Egyptian universities; I believe that the online platform and the Egyptian knowledge bank are sure two main important assets that will facilitate the cooperation process. There must be a call to publish various Egyptian academic research through the knowledge bank, whether the academic research of the governmental universities or the private ones. This will create one hub for academic research that will actually need less servers.
Is the library considered a decisive element in the evaluation process of any university? In other words does it affect a University’s international ranking ?
Well let me first tell you that the library is the core base of scientific research; and scientific research is a critical element for the evaluation process of any university and yes it does affect its ranking on the international level.
So giving undivided attention to libraries and scientific research is definitely a core element.
The good news is Dr. Tarek Shawky is attentively taking serious steps towards developing scientific research, within the higher education sector. An example of which is an agreement that has been signed with Web of Science, the world’s largest publisher-neutral citation index and research intelligence platform. The aim behind this agreement is to help well established Arabic academic journals find their way to be internationally recognized.
