Dr. Muhammad Shaira, head of the Engineering Studies Sector Committee at the Supreme Council of Universities, issued an explanatory statement about the controversy surrounding engineering studies in four or five years, especially after the statement of the President of Cairo University that studying at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, four years has become a wide controversy, especially after the comment of the captain Express engineers about the lack of recognition of the union. The following will show the full picture in order to understand the nature of the study in the faculties of engineering.
Nature of study in faculties of engineering
First: It is not permissible to compare a previous academic system (the fixed semester system) with an advanced academic system (the credit hour system):
– In the study system based on semesters (which lasted for many years in Egypt), the student is transferred from one academic group to the next after his success in the academic courses of the group, which are unified for all students of the teams, and the student obtains a bachelor’s degree after spending five full years in the study .
– In the credit hours system (which was approved by the Supreme Council of Universities to become the main system of study), the student is required to complete the study of a specified number of credit hours and to complete all the requirements for obtaining the degree. Studying in a number of years depends on his abilities in achievement.
Second: It is not permissible to compare what is taught to students currently with what was taught to students in previous years, for the following reasons:
– The tremendous dynamic development in technology requires us to develop curricula continuously, and this is what prompted the Engineering Studies Sector Committee of the Supreme Council of Universities to demand that all educational institutions that grant a Bachelor of Engineering degree, whether they are university colleges or higher institutes of engineering, to amend and develop their regulations every five years. latest estimate.
– We ask engineers to compare what they have studied for their graduation with what is being taught at the present time and to note the development that takes place annually on engineering and technological curricula and concepts.
– It must be noted that development in curricula does not neglect the role of basic sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, mechanics…) which are considered the basis for understanding engineering, as engineering in all its branches is nothing but an application of basic sciences.
Third: The development of engineering colleges’ bylaws is subject to advanced reference frameworks:
For your information, the Engineering Studies Sector Committee has developed, decades ago, reference frameworks for setting study regulations, and their permanent development, and the last of these frameworks has been in operation since mid-2022, and it is available on the information network, and no engineering college or institute can prepare a study list Without adhering to the rules and principles found in these frameworks, as well as the reference specifications of the Egyptian Quality Assurance and Accreditation Authority.
The reference frameworks depend on the requirements of the labor market and the continuous increase in the educational dose of advanced skills.
– These frameworks depended first on the system of fixed semesters, which the Supreme Council of Universities found to be unsuitable for the age, so work began on the gradual transition from them to the credit hour systems.
– A comparison has been made between what is taught in our universities in five years with what is taught in many international universities, and it was found that the scientific subject in its entirety is similar, but the method of teaching is radically different.
Fourth: the development of teaching methods, especially in engineering education:
Indoctrination is no longer the adopted method in teaching in general, but the educational process has shifted from teaching to learning.
The tremendous development in the availability of educational materials on information networks has led to the student being able to collect huge educational material in a time that is gradually decreasing year after year.
– The student has become the focus of the educational process, not the professor, and he is able to collect the information that the professor directs him to collect. In other words, the student has turned into a searcher for information.
– We are in a developed era. If a graduate stops pursuing developments in his specialization, he will become outside the requirements of the labor market.
– The acquired skills have become equivalent to the information obtained, and for this reason, teaching methods depend on developing the student’s skills in accordance with the current and expected future labor market requirements.
– One of the requirements for obtaining a bachelor’s degree is to raise the student’s ability to remain, after graduating, informed of the development of technology in order to remain wanted in the labor market.
Fifth: The number of credit hours required in the current frame of reference and their relationship to the years of study:
– The minimum required (in the current frame of reference) for the number of credit hours for any study program is 144 credit hours, and the number may reach 165 credit hours.
The number of semesters a student studies to achieve graduation requirements depends, to a large extent, on his abilities and excellence. He has two main semesters of study, fall and spring, and an optional summer semester.
– Each student has the right to choose the courses he wishes to study (under the supervision of an academic advisor), and depends on his abilities in his attempt to obtain the highest grade, regardless of the number of years he studies.
– It is not possible to achieve the graduation requirements in four years, except for a small number of students, not up to 5% of them at the most.
– We do not force the student to stay in the study for five years (as in the fixed semester system) and he is able to complete the requirements in less time? This is the concept of the credit hour system.
Sixth: Why the controversy and the disputants did not see the relevant study list:
– Study regulations for Cairo engineering and all study regulations for all colleges and institutes are issued by ministerial decisions from the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research specifying the start of work with them, and this is originally based on a recommendation from the concerned sector committee.
The Engineering Studies Sector Committee of the Supreme Council of Universities carefully examines and analyzes the study regulations before recommending their approval.
– The study list for the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University includes all educational materials aimed at graduating students with sufficient information and acquired skills necessary for the labor market.
– We hoped that the disputants would ask for an explanation for the statement of the President of Cairo University, who misunderstood that the study became four years, and the academic courses were shortened to the equivalent of an academic year.