The Ministry of Higher Education received the final version of the new students' statute on 19 October, which have been drafted by the Supreme Council of Universities (SCU). During a meeting at Tanta University on 14 October, the SCU gave final approval to the regulations. The ministry will now prepare a fuller version to be sent to the cabinet which in turn will deliver it to President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi for endorsement. The most important article of the controversial 58-article statute is one stating that it is temporary until the issuing of a new law on higher education. However, the president of Cairo University, Gaber Nassar, told the media this week that the current version of the law did not hinder students from practicing any activity within the universities. “Students must get official approval before conducting any activity within university premises, that is all,” he said. “While drafting the regulations, university professors took into consideration the students' interests,” he added. Nassar said that according to the new regulations some elected students would be allowed to attend meetings of both faculty and university councils when these were discussing topics related to them. However, “any student who has been subject to any disciplinary penalty will be deprived from running for elections to the student unions,” he said. Each union would now be able to take out loans worth LE1,500 instead of the previous LE1,000 per year, and all teams participating in competitions and festivals would now be granted LE75 per diems instead of LE35, he said. “As soon as the draft law is approved, student union elections will be conducted within six weeks,” Nassar added. However, student unions at 12 of Egypt's universities are objecting to the draft, arguing that their opinions were ignored while preparing it. Amr Hamdi, secretary-general of the Helwan University student union, said the approved draft was “illegal” as it did not represent the views of any university student union. “The draft is offering us peanuts,” he said, adding that it stipulated the consent of the university administration before the organisation of public events, especially if these included a guest speaker, and this was not acceptable to students. “Why are there all these restrictions? What are they afraid of? We are just students who want to exercise our right to activities at university,” Hamdi said. Many students have expressed their dismay at the role the government has played in drafting the new law, seeing it as an example of a deal between the Ministry of Interior and the universities at the expense of students. Observers believe that the officials concerned deliberately did not invite input from students. “The statutes should have been subject to approval by student unions at universities all over the country before being approved by the cabinet and sent on to President Al-Sisi,” Hamdi said. Egypt's Student Unions (ESU), an umbrella group, opposes the new regulations since it restricts student activities on university premises and reduces the powers of the student unions. According to Sohaib Abdullah, secretary-general of the ESU, the new law will hinder students from freely expressing their opinions. Abdullah said that the new statute allowed students to practice political activities on university premises, but university approval was essential if these were to be in accordance with regulations. According to the draft law, violators may be subject to expulsion from their universities. Mohamed Abdullah, head of the Cairo University student union, said that the draft did not represent students as it had been drafted in the absence of student representatives. “Why have they set the regulations by themselves and not asked the opinions of the students,” Abdullah asked. Some university professors have also criticised the new statute. Awatef Abdel-Rahman, a university professor and member of the 9 March Movement, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the authorities had not kept their promises to students. “Severe restrictions have been placed on students. The draft curbs freedoms. The students were totally ignored, causing severe frustration,” Abdel-Rahman said, adding that a delegation of university professors and student representatives would now meet with the Cairo University president in order to discuss amendments to the draft. “I don't have high hopes regarding this meeting, but we have to try,” she concluded.
