Cairo University, Egypt’s biggest state-run academic institution, has initiated an action plan against thriving but unlawful ‘teaching centres’ in its vicinity, accusing them of “undermining the educational process”. The centres, located just outside campus, are accused of pirating academic books, producing sub-standard study guides and holding fee-charging crash courses for students. Academics, whose books have allegedly been pirated by the centres, say their complaints to law-enforcement authorities have not drawn a response.

If the academic profession does not maintain adequate income levels, academic performance throughout the system inevitably suffers. Academics must receive sufficient remuneration to live an appropriate middle-class lifestyle. Through an Egyptian example of university professors demanding sums of money to their students, this article deals with the inevitable consequences of inadequate academic salaries.