Ahmed Sa’ad, from the village of Dandra, ranked first among high school literary section students in Qena Governorate with a score of 404 points, allowing him to join any literary faculty in the country— except at Cairo University though it only requires 395 points. Based on his origin, Sa’ad has to study at the Faculty of Media and Telecommunication at Janoub Al-Wadi University, which requires 382 points.

Ahmed Sa’ad, from the village of Dandra, ranked first among high school literary section students in Qena Governorate with a score of 404 points, allowing him to join any literary faculty in the country— except at Cairo University though it only requires 395 points. Based on his origin, Sa’ad has to study at the Faculty of Media and Telecommunication at Janoub Al-Wadi University, which requires 382 points.

Ahmed has never visited Cairo. “I was ready to pack my luggage and travel by train to Cairo to join the Faculty of Media,” he said. “I am sure that studying at the Faculty of Media in Cairo is more rewarding academically and it would expand my horizons.”

Regulations of regional distribution

Sa’ad could not study in Cairo due to the Ministerial Decision No. 1973 0f 2014 issued by the Supreme Council of Universities based on regulations of regional distribution for 2015. Based on this decision, students of the Delta and Upper Niles cannot study in nine faculties in Cairo University— all considered among Egypt’s top faculties. These include the faculties of economics and political sciences, media, natural medicine, archeology, linguistics, biology, fine arts, applied arts, and art education. The decision aims at reducing student migration and keeping families unified.

The decision’s opponents however, believe that these majors in the colleges of Upper Niles and Delta lack the same academic level. This obliges Egyptian students to remain in their provinces under an educational system, which forces them to join distorted copies of the Egyptian academic bureaucracy in the governorates which intensify geographic discrimination and undermine the principle of equal educational opportunities for all Egyptian students.

“I have no opportunity here”

Janoub Al-Wadi University was established in 2014, becoming the third governmental faculty of media in Egypt. Ahmed Sa’ad reads Al Gomhuria and the Youm 7 Newspapers and is looking forward to majoring in journalism. He knows that he eventually has to move to Cairo if he is to get the opportunity he cherishes. “I have no opportunity here in Qena,” he said.

To understand the media landscape available for the graduates of the Media Faculty at Janoub Al-Wadi University, Mahmud Dasouki, editor-in-chief of Deshna Today issued by Awlad Al-Balad Foundation says: “Prior to the revolution, the media coverage in Qena was limited to al-Isbou’a (the Week) Newspaper owned by Mustafa al-Bakri, the weekly Voice of Qena, funded by the governorate and the daily Akhbar Qena. However, since the revolution and the launching of the Awlad Al-Balad project in Qena, the journalism scene in Qena has changed. The Awlad Al-Balad Foundation relied on margins such as Deshna and Naj’e Hamadi to make news instead of only depending on Qena center.

Dasouki believes that the biggest problem is that journalism is connected to tribes and elections, something which Awlad Al-Balad sought to change with the very few newspapers that have correspondents in Qena. There are only three offices for national newspapers (Al-Akhbar, Al-Ahram and Al Gomhuria) especially after the Masri Today closed its office. Moreover, government newspapers provide no job opportunities. As for TV and Radio, there are no channels in Qena. The Eighth Channel studio which reports the news of the southern Upper Niles is located in Aswan and the Seventh Channel studio which covers the news of the northern Upper Niles is in al-Minya.

The center provides more opportunities

Studying in Cairo was a normal practice for Qena students hoping to improve their employability.  Ahmed Zaki Osman of the Mahrousa Village, is the editor-in-chief of the Humanist Magazine issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“In 1997, I joined the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences, the only faculty at the time. My move from Qena to Cairo was the single most important event in my life and had major impact on my character. Despite the dominant political repression at the time, the faculty had some freedom. The opportunity to express a different opinion was not there in the Upper Niles nor in the whole Egypt.”

When asked about how he imagined his life had he not taken the train 600 km from his hometown, he answered: “I think that my study would have been superficial. I would have struggled and become a history teacher at best which I did not envisage myself doing at all.”

Zaki believes that the geographic distribution decision represents an attempt to prevent the Upper Niles from taking part in building Egypt’s future. “These areas will feel socially isolated and not part of the country.”

“We only had a library two months ago”

The “regional” faculties are still finding their academic way. The Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences received 560 students in 2013. This year, student Ali Mohamed Ahmed will join the third section of the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences in Beni Suef.

“Political Sciences is a good major but the faculty suffers from huge administrative shortages and the services are nothing like the ones provided at Cairo University. We only had a library two months ago,” Ali said. The faculty includes only two departments: economics and politics and it does not have a statistics department while its Cairo counterpart does.

Professors of the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University do not seem to be satisfied with the geographic distribution decision. Commenting on the establishment of counterpart economics and politics faculties, the faculty dean Hala Sa’eed said: “It was more useful to establish a faculty of administrative, financial and banking sciences instead of overloading society with graduates without providing them with job opportunities.”

Ahmed Abd Rabbo, Professor of Politics at the Faculty says: “The decision undermines the principle of equal opportunities among students. The faculty will lose its great diversity of students and this will affect the teaching staff after eight years.”

There are no official statistics about the number of students from the Upper Niles and Delta studying at top universities, but Ahmed Sa’ad’s case is not unique. Therefore, the geographic distribution decision will impact the careers of so many students from these regions particularly in light of the lack of sufficient support for the new faculties and their low academic levels.