Egypt in Transition

Article
Teaching Public Administration
Egypt in Transition:
31(2) 174–185
ª The Author(s) 2013
Responding to Social
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DOI: 10.1177/0144739413491111
and Political Changes
tpa.sagepub.com
in Executive
Education
Dina Mohamed Wafa
The American University in Cairo
Abstract
Egypt witnessed an unexpected uprising on 25 January 2011. People took to the streets
demanding their rights to freedom, equity and a better economy, and in only 18 days
managed to oust President Mubarak, who had held power for 30 years. The transition
period is still ongoing with an unfolding of events creating turbulence in the political, social
and economic arena. This study looks at the impact of the uprising of 25 January and the
subsequent transition in higher education in general, with a focus on the School of Global
Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP), Executive Education Unit at the American University in
Cairo (AUC). GAPP Executive Education is considered the training arm of the school,
providing education and training opportunities that serve to reinforce and reinvigorate
professional leadership capacities within government agencies, public institutions, civil
society and media organizations in a challenging global environment within Egypt and the
region. GAPP Executive Education offers both customized programs and open enrollment
programs according to current trends and needs. The unit was established in May 2010,
quickly finding itself in a mixed realm of events. As an income-generating unit serving gov-
ernment agencies and public institutions, the transition period in Egypt and the region
placed GAPP Executive Education in a test situation to find responsive solutions. The study
is divided into five sections: a brief background; role of educational institutes as partners in
change; impact of challenging times on structure; impact of economic changes on peda-
gogy; and the impact of social and political changes.
Keywords
Arab Spring, crisis management, Egypt, executive education, higher education
Corresponding author:
Dina Mohamed Wafa, The American University in Cairo, AUC Avenue, New Cairo, Cairo, 11835, Egypt.
Email: dwafa@aucegypt.edu

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Mohamed Wafa
175
Brief Background
During Mubarak’s era the government was able to increase foreign investment yet
ignored the widening wealth distribution gap, corruption, and political and human
rights grievances. Healthcare and education collapsed. Economic deprivation attracted
labor union strikes such as the Mahalla district strike in 2008. The Mahalla strike was
significant in that not only was it widespread through the whole city and neighboring
areas, but that there were calls against Mubarak, and the pulling down of his images.
State media revealed nothing of the latter. It was only through social media that such
images were displayed, as several bloggers posted photographs of the protesters
pulling down Mubarak posters, a very brave action at the time (Bassiouni, 2012;
Radsch, 2011). Furthermore, human rights and political grievances drew several social
movements such as ‘Kefaya’ (Enough), ‘April 6th’ and ‘Kolona Khaled Saied’ (We are
all Khaled Saied). The ‘Kefaya movement opposed the inheritance plan of presidency
and corruption, while the April 6th movement rose after the labor strikes in Mahalla
district, and [the] We are all Khaled Saied movement rose to oppose police brutality’
(Kinninmont, 2012).
‘In Egypt, unlike Tunisia where the uprising sparked from the rural areas, it was an
urban uprising from the major cities. Both had a common cause: personal dignity and
responsive government’ (Andersen, 2011). What started off on 25 January as a mere
demonstration against police brutality soon became recognized as a contending force, an
uprising of the Egyptian people against a dictatorship regime. Thereafter, 25 January
bore economic and political demands bringing together people from different religious,
economic and social classes; all united for one purpose, a representative and responsive
government. The numbers in the streets were unprecedented. Million-man marches
swarmed the streets and squares of Egypt. In 18 days, ‘Tahrir’ or Liberation Square and
other squares around Egypt managed to break the line of fear, and topple down a dicta-
torship regime that had lasted for more than 30 years. However, one must recognize that
the surprise was not that the people were dissatisfied, since for the past decade several
movements and protests had been organized against corruption and government failure;
the real surprise was that many believed that the dictatorship regime was immune, and
managed to defeat all signs of revolt (Darwish, 2012; Lynch, 2011).
During the 18 days of the 25 January uprising, all operations were unexpectedly
interrupted. The communications blackout and the imposed curfew began on 28 January
2011, a Friday, which is a weekend day in Egypt. Life came to a halt. GAPP Executive
Education, which had only begun operations in May 2010 had to abruptly abort one of its
long-term programs, Advanced Public Policy Management in collaboration with the
Ministry of State for Administrative Development (MSAD). On 28 January the Egyptian
authorities cut all internet and mobile phone communication, since Hatem Dweidar, a
senior executive in one of the two major operating cell phone services in Egypt, reported
to the news that they had received orders on 23 January that they should comply with any
order to cut communications in the next few days (Bassiouni, 2012). Reaching trainees and
trainers for adjustment arrangements with no cell phone service or internet was quite a
challenge, and depended on the now rarely used landlines.
175

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Teaching Public Administration 31(2)
GAPP Executive Education, as with most institutions at the time, incurred due losses
and faced uncertainty. Today, more than two years since the uprising, Egypt is still facing a
state of uncertainty and instability. Two parliamentary elections, two referendums and one
presidential election have been held. New forces came into power. The cabinet was
changed three times, with prospects of changing yet another time. The anticipation for
change and political ambiguity brings its implications to bear on the economy and on
public policy issues, and in turn on public management and public policy education and
training.
During the transition, schools responded to the high demand for knowledge and
enthusiasm expressed by students and the general public by introducing new initiatives.
These initiatives ranged from public dialogues of debate to courses specifically
responsive to current needs. Departments of the American University in Cairo offered
courses on various topics: the public policy and administration department offered Islam
and Good Governance; the political science department offered Revolutions in the Arab
World; the history department offered Al Shaab Youreed Iskat El Nizam (the people
want to oust the regime); the rhetoric English department offered Writing the Revolution
(Building a Better Egypt, 2011; Provost, 2011, personal communication to the American
University in Cairo community). Additionally other institutions such as Cairo University
offered a wide range of academic courses, dialogues and conferences including a course
on the transformation of Euro-Arab world relations post the Arab Spring (El Khawaga O
director EuroMed Center, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University,
2013, personal communication). Students were eager to learn and to become active
citizens.
The Role of Educational Institutes as Partners in Change
The unveiling of events as Egypt transitions to democracy will certainly bring its
implications to bear on public policy and public management education. Not only this, it
will also extend to other specializations, as is now the norm in interdisciplinary education,
to include changes in media and journalism education, law and human rights, sociology,
political science, economics and history. Educational institutes are expected to play a key
role in economic, social and political change, and development. In several instances,
according to studies, their role, at least initially, would be reactive ‘to external pressures
rather than initiating or driving transformation’ (Brennan et al., 2004).
At the current time of uncertainty in Egypt, educational institutes may play a role as
partners in change through facilitating debate, and posing alternative solutions and
studies. One of the political...