Angry students claim favouritism determines placements

Mauritanian students protested in front of the Presidential Palace in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, following allegations that bureaucrats tampered with lists allocating places to students to attend Egyptian universities. The students claimed that favouritism played a role in the placements.

Egyptian authorities annually offer seats to Mauritanian students to study at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Egyptian universities within the framework of a cultural exchange agreement between the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Mauritanian Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research, Media and Communication Technologies.

The Union of Mauritanian Students in Egypt (UMSE) demanded transparency, justice and equality in distributing the places after an accusation that officials in the Mauritanian embassy in Cairo have been inserting new names on the list on the basis of favouritism and at the expense of students who have been waiting for years in Egypt. The closure of the embassy while students were still trying to complete registration procedures fuelled the dissent.

The protests started on 1 December and videos and photos were posted online.

Review needed

Muhammad Abdullah Ibrahim Gedo, the vice secretary general of the UMSE, in a 2 December video, said banning Mauritanian students from entering the embassy, could be viewed as “a punishment for them for demanding their rights, stressing that the union and all students will not remain silent about their rights and will not accept tampering with them”.

Gedo sent a message on behalf of all the Mauritanian students in Egypt to the Mauritanian ambassador in Egypt, and to all concerned parties, to deal with the union and students in a respectful manner, re-open the embassy buildings, register all waiting Mauritanian students in Egypt, and determine the future university registration mechanism in coordination with the union.

Speaking to University World News, Muhammad Al-Shanqiti, UMSE secretary general, said the list of students’ names announced by the Mauritanian embassy in Egypt was not based on the selection criteria agreed upon between the UMSE and the embassy, which included giving preference to residents who arrived first, women and scientific disciplines.

Sheikh Ibrahim Ould Al-Din, the secretary-general of the General Union of Mauritanian Students, told University World News that there appeared to be a contradiction between the selection regulations of the Mauritian Ministry of Higher Education and the regulations of the Mauritanian embassy in Egypt.

“Therefore, at the 10th ordinary conference of the General Union of Mauritanian Students (GUMS) held last week, we called for a review of the mechanism for registering Mauritanian students in Egyptian universities as well as informing the concerned authorities of these criteria, including the student unions,” Al-Din said.

Placements worldwide

In a recent statement, 20 students unions, associations and syndicates inside and outside Mauritania including in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco and Senegal, rejected corruption surrounding the distribution of university places offered to Mauritania under cultural exchange programmes with countries around the world.

“Students who are benefiting from these university seats are subjected to many manifestations of favouritism, lack of transparency, and the control of certain individuals and entities in the higher education sector over the selection process,” the statement alleged.

The statement also called for “announcing the names of the beneficiaries of the university seats under the cultural cooperation programme to ensure transparency and equality among students” as well as leaving the door open for complaints.

“We continue our struggle against these malpractices that distort the country’s image and infringe on the rights of students who are eligible to benefit from these educational opportunities,” the statement concluded.

University World News contacted the Mauritanian Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research, Media and Communication Technologies, but did not receive a response.