University professors are voicing reservations about the state plan to raise their monthly pay, reports Mona El-Nahhas Following a heated debate between Minister of Higher Education Hani Helal and members of the Cairo University Teaching Staff Club, the state- drafted plan to raise the income of university professors received preliminary approval from the professors who at the same time stressed that certain amendments should be introduced. "If they do not respond to the amendments suggested by professors during Thursday's conference, we will renew our rejection," professor Tareq Desouqi from Mansoura University told Al-Ahram Weekly. Today, a general conference hosting chairmen of all teaching staff clubs in Egypt, is due to be held at Benha Teaching Staff Club to draft a final paper that would include the views of all club members regarding the government plan. The blueprint, recently drawn by the Ministry of Higher Education with the aim of linking any pay increase to professors' performance, initiated a wave of protests among professors immediately after it was referred to the faculties' councils. Professors, led mainly by members of the 9 March Movement for the Independence of Universities, argued that the conditions cited in the plan for raising their monthly pay are humiliating and could never be accepted. For months, professors have been pressing, via sit-ins and a symbolic work stoppage, for a non- conditional 100 per cent increase in basic rates of pay for all members of the teaching staff. However, the ministry made it clear that basic salaries will not be raised at this stage. During his meeting with Cairo University officials late last week, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif stressed that monthly pays of professors would not be raised without work. "We received a promise from the ministry that basic salaries will be raised in two years," said Adel Abdel-Gawwad, chairman of the Cairo Teaching Staff Club and one of the clubs' chairmen who took part in drafting the ministerial plan. At this, the first stage of the three-stage plan, the ministry decided to apply a system of conditional bonuses which would range from LE1,200 to LE2,000 according to the degree held by the teaching staff member. According to the system, a professor is assigned by the university administration to perform certain tasks in order to obtain the bonus. Such tasks were defined by draft makers as giving lectures, supervising post-graduate theses, participating in the activities of student unions and drawing up strategic plans for faculties. A professor must also work for 28 hours a week, otherwise the bonus will not be forthcoming. Faced with irate professors, the minister pledged that the suggested system will not be applied without their approval. During last week's meeting Helal asked professors to sit at the negotiation table and come up with their own ideas. Fearing that stubbornness on the part of professors may lead to a loss of possible gains, the chairmen of some teaching staff clubs decided to play the role of mediator and persuaded professors to adopt a rather lenient stand while presenting their views. A statement has been issued by the Cairo Teaching Staff Club which included professors' views regarding the amendments that should be introduced into the plan. The recommendations focussed on limiting the wide-ranging authority of university administrations envisioned in the government project. By means of the suggested amendments, the department council at each faculty, not the university administration, will be the sole body authorised to follow up and assess the performance of professors. It is the department council which should define tasks and working hours for each teaching staff member, the statement said. Professors should get a monthly bonus starting from July without any interruptions even during the summer vacation, the statement recommended, adding that such a system should be applied to all teaching staff members without exception. The statement called for improving working conditions and research capabilities by increasing the subsidy allocated to existing state-owned universities. Besides the Cairo University Teaching Staff Club, professors working for three state-owned universities have already sent to the ministry their own concept regarding the amendment of the ministerial plan. Views of the rest of the universities are expected to be sent to the ministry within the next few days. "We hope the ministry will keep to its word and take into consideration our own suggestions, otherwise the plan will be totally meaningless," Desouqi said.
