Authorities cancel in-person final university exams

Egypt’s higher education authorities have cancelled the final exams of the second semester in different universities in the Middle Eastern country to help stem an outbreak of the new coronavirus. The step comes more than a month after Egypt shut down all schools and universities as part of precautions to contain the spread of the potentially fatal disease.

The Supreme Council of Universities, a state agency in charge of charting the academic policies in Egypt, announced this week that the exams would be cancelled and replaced by either a research paper or an online exam according to certain guidelines.

The council said research papers should cover the syllabus taught in the second semester. Each university has been given the right to set its own rules in evaluating and approving the research.

The online exams will be limited to academic institutions and study programmes that have the necessary technological infrastructure to conduct such tests.

Pass-or-fail rule applies

The standard grading system will not be applied to either alternatives: research or online exams. Instead, the pass-or-fail rule will be applied without affecting the students’ overall grades.

As for universities originally abiding by rules committing students to practical training, the council said such training courses will be held after the end of the unspecified suspension of classes, or at the start of the next academic year in Egypt.

Meanwhile, senior students’ final-year exams will be postponed until the university shutdown ends. The council requested universities to give those students “appropriate time” before they sit for exams.

The council said it would approach state agencies to solve problems that could result from delaying the graduation of those students. In Egypt, male university graduates have to serve a compulsory military service while their female counterparts do community service.

Mixed responses

Students have reacted differently to the latest decisions.

“The formula is the best way out of the predicament resulting from the coronavirus pandemic,” said Hossam Mohamed, a law student at Ain Shams University, a public university in Cairo. He said the move guarantees protection of students' health and saves the academic year from being prolonged for an indefinite period.

But for Tamer Abdul Tawab, a student at the state-run Cairo University's commerce school, the decision to cancel the exams seems unfair.

“In the first semester, I obtained low grades. I hoped to get better grades in the second semester,” he said. "This hope is now shattered after the decision that the alternative research paper will be evaluated as either passing or failing and will not be added to the student's GPA [Grade Point Average].”

Egypt’s Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar has said the aim of the council’s decisions is to protect the well-being of students, lecturers and other university staff.

“We reached these decisions after contact with public and private universities in Egypt,” added Abdel Ghaffar, who also heads the Supreme Council of Universities. “Protecting public health is a top priority. At the same time, we are keen to ensure that students will not miss a year in their academic life in the current global exceptional situation,” he said.

There are a total of 3.1 million students at Egypt's 28 public and 25 private universities.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country of 100 million people, has banned large gatherings as part of anti-coronavirus restrictions, including a nationwide night time curfew and closure of non-essential businesses. Authorities so far have reported over 3,000 virus infections including 250 deaths.

Some undergraduate students have called for refunds of fees paid for the second term.