| Volume 13, Issue 5 
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Regional
News
EGYPT
Another 86,000 students with grade point averages ranging between 70 and 77 percent are being forced to settle for technical institutes that only offer a certificate. According to Kamal Mogheith of the Institute of Pedagogic Research at Cairo University, these schools, which are understaffed and offer inferior curriculums, merely serve as holding pens for students with poor grades. These intermediate institutes were created at the end of the 1960s, when the government could no longer guarantee university places for all students. Another result
of the overcrowding is the proliferation of private lessons, which has
created a "shadow" system of education accessible only to the
very rich. In addition, private tutors usually know what kinds of questions
will appear on exams and unfairly pass these on to their students. Although
private lessons are against the law in Egypt, they are difficult to stop
because they help mitigate two problems: poorly paid teachers and overcrowding
in universities. --
Middle East Times IRAN
Before the Islamic revolution of 1979, a university education was largely limited to the urban rich. Since then, rising literacy rates have allowed greater numbers of people from the poor and middle classes to attend schools and colleges. The desire among women to pursue university degrees has risen significantly: Between 1990 and 2000, the number of women attending university has tripled. In some faculties -- medicine and social sciences -- women outnumber male students. The new trend is also attributed to the liberalizing policies of President Mohammad Khatami, who remains popular among young women. This same constituency is credited with voting many conservatives (with their stringent social restrictions) out of power in parliamentary elections earlier this year. Many hard-liners fear that women are now going to demand that society attach value to their skills and degrees and provide jobs for them. At present, women make up a mere 14 percent of the labor force. Iranian authorities
have at various times attempted to curb the flow of young women into universities.
From 1989 to 1997, for instance, they restricted the number of university
places for women ostensibly to make room for veterans of the war with
Iraq. However, it is doubtful that the conservative elements in Iranian
society will be able to reverse the trend, which is already reshaping
attitudes. --
New York Times UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
AUS has a comprehensive partnership with the American University (AU) in Washington, D.C. Under the agreement, AU in Washington provides AUS with most of its senior management personnel (chancellor, vice chancellor, two deans and the university librarian). AU Washington also certifies the equivalency of AUS courses with those courses offered at its own campus. AUS has also entered into an affiliation agreement with Texas A & M University (TAMU) because AU in Washington does not have an engineering school. TAMU has provided AUS with a dean and an associate dean of engineering. AUS students are given the option of studying at TAMU during the summer session. AUS only admits graduates of secondary schools that are recognized by the ministries of education in their respective countries. Admission is based on the student's averages during the last three years in secondary school. No one is admitted whose average is below 70 (75 percent in math and physics and for some professional schools). Minimum TOEFL scores of 500 are also required for matriculation. AUS
recently applied for U.S. accreditation. The university filed an application
with the Delaware State Board of Education for licensing as an institution
of higher education authorized to grant degrees. A site team from Delaware
is scheduled to visit AUS in November. --
Correspondence from the American University of Sharjah
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Due
to overcrowding, only a third of the 310,000 students applying to universities
this year will be able to get into the faculties of their choice. More
than 130,000 students with grades as high as 78-94 percent have had to
opt for the less job-oriented faculties such as science, history and social
sciences.