Accreditation and quality assurance in the Egyptian higher education system
| Pages | 149-165 |
| Date | 07 April 2015 |
| Published date | 07 April 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-08-2013-0034 |
| Author | Rahel Schomaker |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Accreditation and quality
assurance in the Egyptian higher
education system
Rahel Schomaker
Cologne Business School, Cologne,
Germany and German Research Institute for Public Administration,
Speyer, Germany
Abstract
Purpose – This study aims to analyze the quality of the Egyptian accreditation system. With a view
on the high competition in the domestic labor market as well as with regards to the international
competitiveness of Egyptian graduates and the potential role of Egyptian universities in the
international market for higher education, a high quality of study programmes and the provision of
skills which meet the employers’ needs is a pressing issue for policymakers in Egypt, in particular in the
light of the recent and ongoing transformation process.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on a triangulation of document analysis and semi-
structured interviews, the authors analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the system of accreditation
as well as current measures to improve quality in higher education and provide policy implications for
further action undertaken by Egyptian policymakers to improve the accreditation system.
Findings – First, the authors provide a sound overview of the newly established accreditation system
in Egypt and analyze the role of the National Authority of Educational Quality Assurance and
Accreditation within this process. Second, the paper addresses the structural shortcomings as well as
implementation problems of the current accreditation system which limit the capacity of the national
accreditation agency to provide accreditation for all institutions of higher education in Egypt and to
ensure the overall quality of higher education. The role of peer reviewers is of pivotal importance in this
context. A specic problem which has not been analyzed so far is the role of religious institutions, the
so-called Al-Azhar institutions, in the accreditation process, and the consequences this will have for
further developments in accreditation.
Practical implications – The paper concludes with providing policy implications at the backdrop of
the ongoing political transformation process in Egypt.
Originality/value – The paper provides the rst comprehensive analysis of the strengths and
weaknesses of the Egyptian accreditation system and contributes to the understanding of the pivotal
role of peer reviewers in this process. Also, for the rst time, the challenges regarding accreditation of
Al-Azhar institutions are targeted.
Keywords Egypt, Quality assurance, Higher education, Employability, Accreditation
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The (higher) education sector in the Middle East as well as in Egypt suffers from several
shortcomings, perhaps because of the lack of nancial resources, high demographic
pressure on the system or governance issues due to corruption within the education
system. These factors inter alia lead to quality problems, which affect the outcome
quality of higher education severely. With a view on the high competition in the
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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Egyptian
higher
education
system
149
Received 4 August 2013
Revised 19 October 2013
3 June 2014
Accepted 16 October 2014
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.23 No. 2, 2015
pp.149-165
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-08-2013-0034
domestic labor market as well as with regard to the international competitiveness of
Egyptian graduates and the potential for Egyptian universities in the international
market for higher education, a high quality of study programs and the provision of skills
which meet the employers’ needs is a pressing issue for policymakers in Egypt. This is
in particular relevant in the light of the recent and ongoing transformation process,
which demonstrates the negative impact of a mismatch on the labor market and the
associated problems on social stability and life satisfaction of (young) people.
Based on a triangulation of document analysis and semi-structured interviews, we
provide a sound overview of status quo of the system of quality assurance in Egypt, the
newly established accreditation system in Egypt, and analyze the role of the National
Authority of Educational Quality Assurance and Accreditation (NAQAAE) within this
process. In addition, we address the structural shortcomings as well as implementation
problems of the current accreditation system which limit the capacity of the national
accreditation agency to provide accreditation for all institutions of higher education in
Egypt and to ensure the overall quality of higher education. We also target the specic
problem associated with the so-called Al-Azhar institutions in the accreditation process
and discuss the consequences for further developments in accreditation. The paper
concludes with providing policy implications at the backdrop of the ongoing political
transformation process in Egypt.
2. Methodology
The paper provides a comprehensive overview over and an examination of the Egyptian
system of quality assurance and accreditation with the aim of identifying persisting
problems and providing policy recommendations. This kind of “systems analysis” is
coined by gathering information about the status quo as well as by the identication of
its strengths and weaknesses and by analyzing these factors to provide a conceptual
framework for an adjusted system or major changes of the current system if needed
(Al-Shahat Abdel Karim, 2010). To consider options for future quality assurance in light
of the Egyptian context and to provide policy recommendations seem to be reasonable in
particular with a view on the high unemployment rates, which at least amplify the
current social and political struggles in Egypt’s transition process after the dismissal of
the former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Because of the nature of the topic, as well as the lack of quantitative data, the
principal source for the analysis is document analysis, combined with semi-structured
interviews which have been carried out with members of the accreditation body and
ofcials in the higher education sector. Using this triangulation of methods, we are able
to map out the complex formal and informal challenges in the accreditation system more
complete and from different theoretical and practical viewpoints (Cohen et al., 2007). As
for the document analysis, inter alia government policy documents, handbooks,
guidelines and reports have been analyzed, recognizing that not all materials may be
made publicly available and that in particular practical constraints or unofcial
procedures may not be covered by them. Here, the ten semi-structured interviews
conducted have been used to collect the missing information to make the picture more
complete. Within the interviews, beyond some established topics/questions on the
accreditation system and procedures, additional questions on monetary incentives,
corruption and open questions were also asked, allowing to explore additional topics
and issues not covered by the initial questions as well as the ofcial documents.
QAE
23,2
150
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