CAIRO: Computer labs throughout Egypt were packed on Saturday as 22,200 Thanawiya amma (Egypt's national secondary certificate) graduates began the university application process via the official University Admissions Office website. The application process is divided into three phases according to the grades with the first phase open for students with the highest grades. Science division students who scored a minimum of 91.46 percent and arts division students starting at 81.46 percent will be the first to apply. Both parents and students were furious at not having a hard copy of the University Admissions Office's booklet which lists all universities and their entry requirements. Parents were also blocked from entering the computer labs with their children, according to independent newspaper, Al-Masry Al-Youm. The Ministry of Higher Education Hany Hilal has announced that this year the booklet will only be available online via the official website of the Admissions Office. Students also complained that the server repeatedly crashed, thus disrupting and impeding the application process. According to the media department at the Ministry of Higher Education, the server went down a lot because of the huge number of visitors who logged on at the same time. Students eligible to apply in each of the three phases will have seven days to apply for universities, in addition to two or three days for amendments. The first round of students have until Friday July 25 to apply. A total of 121,066 students should have registered their applications by Friday, according to state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper. The results are scheduled to come out by next week. The Ministry of Higher Education has set up a hotline, 19468, for students and parents to call for more information regarding the application process. Friendly employees answered and welcomed all inquires when Daily News Egypt called.
