Egypt's university professors are to hold an emergency meeting to decide how to respond to the university leaders crisis, reports Reem Leila An emergency meeting of the country's university professors is expected to be held before the 11 September conference to discuss how to respond to developments in the crisis that has affected the leadership of Egyptian universities. The meeting was convened after the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) refused to dismiss university deans and other senior leaders appointed during the previous regime and whose terms have not yet finished. The meeting is considered to be a preparatory step before a conference called to discuss the same matter on 11 September and before an eventual strike by academic staff planned for 17 September. The strike will take place if the SCAF does not approve a draft law that dismisses all current university leaders. The country's academics have criticised Prime Minister Essam Sharaf for not discharging all university leaders in August as he had earlier promised, with Awatef Abdel-Rahman, a veteran professor and member of the 9 March Movement telling Al-Ahram Weekly that "neither the SCAF nor Sharaf have kept their promise to us" to dismiss the university leaders. A delegation of professors met Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Moetaz Khorshid on 6 September, in order to discuss demands for the university leaders' dismissal and it was hoped to reach a compromise. "The outcomes of this meeting will be announced during the 11 September conference, and the expected stand-off will also be discussed," Abdel-Rahman said. Professors from 18 Egyptian universities are expected to participate in the conference, and academics will step up their action at the beginning of the academic year if their demands are not met. The presidents of Cairo, Helwan, Fayoum and Al-Wadi Al-Gadid universities resigned last month before their terms were up. However, six others refused to resign, and a further eight only stepped down because their terms had ended. The protesting professors have accused the SCAF and the Supreme Council of the Universities of manipulating rules for university elections that had previously been agreed upon. They have threatened to begin strike action and to boycott the beginning of the academic year if their demands are not met. University professor Hani El-Husseini, also a member of the 9 March Movement, said that academic staff were refusing to work with corrupt leaders appointed under the former regime. If any of them remained in post, he said, the academics would boycott the new academic year, and professors would remain on strike until their demands were met. Egypt's university presidents are usually appointed and dismissed by presidential decree, whereas deans and heads of departments are appointed by university presidents. "Since we began our protests, we have been demanding the dismissal of all the old university leaders. They have ruined academic life in the universities because they do not understand the real value of education and its importance to the country's welfare," El-Husseini said. Abdel-Rahman said that it was too early to say whether there would be a strike in the universities or not. "A decision will be taken during the conference," she said. "If striking is our last resort, we will not hesitate for a second." "Our colleagues are blaming us as they believe we have given up, which is not the case at all. We will continue to escalate our reaction until our demands are met," Abdel-Rahman said. Meanwhile the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Supreme Council of the Universities have approved a new system under which university leaders will be elected. According to the new system, university presidents will be elected via an electoral college system comprising a number of full professors not standing in the elections as well as one law professor. The deans of faculties and heads of departments will be chosen through direct elections. "Lecturers participating in the elections of deans and heads of departments will vote in a separate category in order to calculate 10 per cent of their votes, which will then be added to the total number of votes. The number of lecturers is more than that of professors and assistant professors, and we have provided them with 10 per cent of the overall votes," El-Husseini said. The professors are also demanding greater transparency in the management of university budgets and greater activism on the part of university councils in managing academic life. "Even the higher-education budget has not been raised as the prime minister promised," El-Husseini said.
