Egyptian student Yassin Al-Adl is preparing to start his second university year in the Faculty of Engineering at Mansoura National University, within days, where he is studying architecture, which was a dream for him that almost collapsed when he did not obtain a score that would qualify him to enroll in any of the public universities last year, had he not been able to join his current college, whose annual expenses amount to about 75 thousand pounds (the dollar is about 51 pounds), while the expenses for the same major double in private universities.
Al-Adl considers that private universities have paved the way for many to study what they desire, but at the same time he hopes that logistics will improve in these universities to facilitate the student’s study period, as well as the opening of more departments, saying that “private universities have specializations that are not found in public universities.” Private universities changed the map of higher education in Egypt, amid controversy over their high fees.
For years, the Egyptian government has been expanding the opening of private universities, which are “non-profit” according to their official definition, subject to the supervision of the Supreme Council of Universities, and rely on a system of expenses that in some universities and some specializations reach 150 thousand pounds annually.
Controversy has accompanied private universities since their founding, amid varying positions on them, between those who welcome them as the best way to keep pace with development in the educational process without placing additional burdens on the state budget, and those who consider them to be an indicator of diminishing equality in opportunities and education based on income, as they deprive students in the poorest groups of opportunities similar to their colleagues in the higher classes.
Educational expert Assem Hegazy sides with the first team, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that private “non-profit universities have the best opportunity to develop and keep pace with educational modernity in a way that goes beyond even private universities,” explaining that “private universities have a primary goal of profit, so spending on developing education comes at a later stage after obtaining profits for entrepreneurs, unlike private universities that allocate their budget to spending on themselves and the educational process, as no one profits from them, which gives them greater opportunities for development.”
Hegazy added, “Private universities’ main goal is to enhance the fields needed by the labor market, so they have many specializations that are not found in public universities, such as specializations related to furniture manufacturing or the automobile industry, and so on,” pointing out that they also integrate with the surrounding environment. “The university in a certain governorate focuses on what this governorate is famous for or what the labor market needs in terms of departments within it.”
Despite his admiration for it, he also does not ignore the idea of “expenses that are an obstacle for some students to enroll,” but in this context he praised the grants as a way to reduce this gap.
A few days ago, the Ministry of Higher Education launched the “Future Scholars” grant in partnership with the Central Bank, and aims to support 30,000 outstanding students from the most needy groups.
Education expert Wael Kamel does not believe that “grants are sufficient to achieve justice in the education file, with the state tending to reduce the number of admissions to public universities in exchange for expanding the establishment of private universities with high expenses for many families,” telling Asharq Al-Awsat that “grants are limited and ineffective, as the number of high school students this year exceeded 900,000 students.”
Kamel explains how, from his point of view, these universities are the beginning of the “privatization of education” indirectly, explaining that “the ill-considered expansion of private and private universities, with the duplication of the same existing specializations in public universities, is no longer just an increase in the number of universities, but rather a change in the form and philosophy of university education itself.”
He added: “Instead of reforming the public university and providing the funding it needs, we have created paid alternatives next to it that can attract faculty members to it with wages many times higher, while leaving the public university suffering from weak salaries, numbers, and resources.”
There are currently 33 private universities in Egypt, according to the official website of the Supreme Council of Universities, including “His Majesty, King Salman, Cairo Private University, Ain Shams Private University, and Helwan Private University,” and the number of students in these universities reached 60,000 students last year. According to official estimates.
Kamel warns, “If we add paid universities that offer the same majors with the same content and the same professors, and then we begin to reduce the number of admissions in some majors in public universities, the natural result is that a portion of the students will find themselves faced with two options: either change the major they want or spend money.”
He continues: “The student may end up facing an unfair equation. He who has money can get an education, and he who does not have money and his mental abilities are higher must look for an alternative, because he cannot pay the expenses.”
Yassin did not find it difficult to enroll in the National University in light of his family’s financially affluent circumstances, as his father works in a company in an Arab country, and he has only two sisters.
Military operations escalated in the Blue Nile region near Sudan's border with Ethiopia, and violent battles took place between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in the eastern axis of Kurmuk Governorate. In conjunction with movements at the political and diplomatic levels to push towards stopping the war and launching a political process.
Military sources said that the army and the Rapid Support Forces fought a fierce battle, on Saturday, near the Jabal Kadam area in the eastern axis of Kurmuk Governorate, whose capital is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, and that the army was able to repel an attack on its positions in the region.
On Sunday, the leadership of the Army's 4th Infantry Division announced the implementation of a military operation in "Jabal Kaddam," and said that it had inflicted heavy losses on the ranks of the attacking force and its equipment, and had seized 17 vehicles and destroyed 5 other vehicles.
It was not possible to obtain a comment from the Rapid Support Forces, and it was not possible to independently verify the size of the losses announced by the army.
The confrontations come in light of the escalation of military activity on the eastern axis of the city of Kurmuk, which is close to the Ethiopian border. On Sunday, the 4th Infantry Division announced that its air defenses shot down what it described as an “enemy strategic drone” while it was flying over the Baling area on the same axis.
The division's media office said that the drone entered from the direction of the Ethiopian border before the air defenses dealt with it and shot it down, without specifying its type, or providing additional details about the party that launched it.
The Blue Nile region has recently witnessed an escalation in military confrontations, especially in the areas adjacent to the Ethiopian border, at a time when both sides of the war are seeking to strengthen their positions in the region.
Diplomatic moves
In conjunction with the field escalation, international and political contacts regarding the war intensified. On Saturday, the President of the Sovereignty Council and Army Commander, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, met with the British Special Envoy to Sudan, Richard Crowder, in Khartoum, in the presence of Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Muawiyah Othman Khaled.
Crowder said after the meeting that the priority is to stop the war, protect civilians, and end human suffering, noting the extent of the destruction caused to vital and service facilities, and the displacement of large numbers of Sudanese to neighboring countries.
The British envoy referred to the report of the International Fact-Finding Committee and its contents regarding violations of international humanitarian law, external interference in the conflict and the recruitment of foreign fighters.
He explained that ending the crisis requires a dialogue led by the Sudanese through a “comprehensive and transparent” political process that reflects the vision of the Sudanese at home and abroad, expressing his country’s welcome of the Sudanese initiatives.
Crowder added that the Sudan crisis will be present at the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York in the coming days.
“Sumud” meets the UN envoy
In Cairo, a delegation from the Civil Democratic Alliance for Revolutionary Forces (Samoud) met on Saturday with the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Sudan, Pekka Haavisto, following the visit of the Five-Year Mechanism mission to Khartoum.
The coalition said that Haavisto provided the delegation with a briefing on the results of the visit, and that the two sides discussed developments in the situation and efforts aimed at ending the war and moving towards a political path.
The “Resilience” coalition expressed its willingness to continue engaging with the five-party mechanism, but renewed its reservations about some aspects of its performance and the way in which its consultations are managed, demanding that its role be limited to facilitating the political process, and that the political path be designed in consultation with civil forces and with clear criteria for participation.
The coalition led by former Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok expressed reservations about the proposed dialogue inside Sudan, saying that holding a dialogue in light of the continuation of war and division and in a political environment imposed by one of the parties to the conflict, according to him, cannot represent the required national process.
He called for a process based on three simultaneous tracks, including addressing the humanitarian situation, a ceasefire, and launching a political track to address the roots of the crisis.
According to the “Sumud” statement, during the meeting, Haavisto stressed that there is no military solution to the Sudanese crisis, and called for a cessation of hostilities to allow the protection of civilians and the delivery of humanitarian aid, indicating that the five-party mechanism will continue its consultations with the Sudanese forces to agree on the design of the political process.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called on Iran to “stop the escalation.” During a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, on the sidelines of the eighteenth BRICS summit in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Sunday, he stressed “the necessity of stopping any attacks on Arab countries, in order to preserve the principles of good neighborliness and strengthen the historical and cultural ties that bring together the peoples of the region.”
Egypt has repeatedly stressed its full support for the security and stability of Arab countries, and its rejection of any attacks aimed at affecting their sovereignty and stability. She called on more than one occasion to “immediately stop the escalation and resort to serious dialogue and diplomatic means to settle the various outstanding issues in the region.”
Last May, the Egyptian President called on Iran to “be flexible, avoid miscalculations, and provide sufficient opportunity for the diplomatic path.” At the time, during a phone call he received from his Iranian counterpart, he affirmed “Egypt’s position calling for a peaceful settlement of all crises in the region, and its categorical rejection of any attack on the sovereignty of the sisterly Gulf states or a threat to their territorial integrity.”
According to a statement by the official spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency, Mohamed El-Shenawy, on Sunday, during the meeting with the Iranian President, President Sisi stressed “Egypt’s firm and firm position in supporting efforts to restore stability in the region,” stressing that “his country looks forward to Iran making all possible efforts to stop the escalation and reach a comprehensive and sustainable peaceful settlement of the crisis, in a way that ensures the preservation of the sovereignty of the countries of the region and the protection of the capabilities of their people.”
Egypt and Iran severed their diplomatic relations in 1979, before resuming diplomatic representation between them after 11 years, albeit at the level of charge d'affaires. The past three years have witnessed meetings between Egyptian and Iranian ministers on several occasions to discuss the possibility of developing relations between the two countries, after an Iranian presidential directive to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 2023 to take the necessary measures to strengthen relations with Egypt. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi also visited Cairo more than once, met with President Sisi and senior Egyptian officials, and maintains extensive contacts with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdel Ati.
Meanwhile, Araghchi held talks with Abdel Ati on the sidelines of the “BRICS Summit,” according to a statement by the “Iran Interests Section” in Cairo on “X” on Sunday.
At the end of last month, a phone call between Abdel Ati and Araqchi discussed the efforts made to create the atmosphere to achieve calm and return to the diplomatic track, whether in terms of the course of negotiations between Oman and Iran or returning to implementing the memorandum of understanding signed between the United States and Iran on June 18, 2026, to reach a comprehensive and sustainable agreement that addresses various concerns and enhances regional security and stability.
Minister Abdel Ati stressed at the time “the importance of intensifying ongoing diplomatic efforts and movements to reduce the intensity of the current escalation and reach peaceful understandings that contribute to restoring security and stability in the region,” stressing the extreme importance of ensuring international movement and freedom of navigation, and respecting the security and stability of the Gulf states, in a way that achieves the interests of all the peoples of the region.
