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Member of the committee on education and scientific research of the House of Representatives called for installing cameras in all examination halls at Egyptian universities to prevent cheating and lack of discipline. He will send the proposal to the Ministry of Higher Education as cameras will prevent and detect the growing incidents of mass copying by students and reveal any problem that would happen between students and monitors in the exam. This move is part of Egypt’s efforts to enhance the quality of the country’s university education and to deter churning out low quality graduates especially since the country’s examination system has been plagued by cheating over the recent years especially in high schools.

Several Egyptian universities have changed their examination systems in an attempt to curb mass cheating. Academic institutions in the country have in recent years complained about widespread cheating, blaming it on a test system based on rote learning and the large numbers of students admitted into universities each year. In a bid to improve the situation, higher education authorities have recently announced the replacement of the traditional exam system with another based on multiple-choice questions.

Egyptian authorities recently busted what they said was the biggest illegal organ trafficking ring in the country’s history. The suspects include medical professors at the universities of Cairo and Ain Shams, Egypt’s two main public academic institutions, the Health Ministry said. Investigations by Egypt’s Administrative Control Authority and the Health Ministry focused on private hospitals and health centres. Authorities found “millions of dollars and gold bullion”, at the 10 centres.

The online disclosure of college admittance high-school exams has led to nationwide disruptions in Egypt and Algeria. Despite vows by authorities to make sure tests are secure, exam questions have been leaked prior to exam administration in both countries for several years. An October decree by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called for prison sentences for unauthorized disclosure of testing materials. But that decrees has failed to deter a cluster of Facebook groups that have leaked exam questions.

The state of Egypt’s public schools is an essential indicator of the ways in which the Egyptian revolution has not reached its citizens. In fact, private tutoring has now become Egypt’s de facto education system. A number of teachers have admitted, unofficially, that they teach the strict minimum in class so as to be able to recuperate these same students in private tutoring sessions. According to some estimates, Egyptian families spend over 1 billion dollars in private classes to compensate for the poor level of education: a cost which comes to almost a quarter of the family income.

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.

Thousands rallied behind a top-ranked student in a potential case of injustice and corruption. The student, who had achieved nearly perfect marks in previous years, scored zero out of 100 on all seven exams that she sat. The family believes that she is a victim of corruption and that her papers were swapped with another pupil’s.