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In order to cope with the assessment demands of rapidly growing student numbers, and rising incidents of grade tampering and cheating, many African universities are exploring the option of e-exams. While the traditional systems can go as far as bribe-taking by lecturers, invigilators and supervisors as well as examination leakages, e -exams might not be suitable for testing skills like synthesizing information, understanding evidence, critical problem-solving.

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.