Academic freedom in post-Mubarak Egypt

• In Event: Middle East SIG Highlighted Session:The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same? Education Across the MENA After the Uprisings

Abstract

Academic freedom is a core value in higher education. However, many universities across the world lack this basic value. The lack of academic freedom in universities is indeed a reflection to the lack of freedom of speech at the macro level. It also reflects a repressive government, where professors and students alike maybe jailed or killed on or off campus. Two aspects are involved with this form of suppression. The first is that it silences or diminishes intellectual and innovative ideas that can help advance a country. Second, it excludes the involvement of students and faculty from political debates and discussions. The latter is often more controversial then the former. This is due to the disagreement regarding whether or not a university is only a place of learning in which there is no room for politics or if it should be involved and be an active participant in politics. It is important here to differentiate between the university as an entity represented by its officials and faculty members versus the individual participation or opinion of someone who is associated with a university. In many parts of the world, academic freedom is further determined by the legal conditions of the university, whether it is public or private, and by any financial support it receives from government or private funding sources.
This paper argues that the amount of academic freedom in universities mirrors the broad status of people’s rights at the national level drawing upon Egypt as a case study. The presentation will start with a historical background of the status of academic freedom in Egypt comparing it to other countries in the Middle East region and around the world. It will, however, place an emphasis on the status of academic freedom at the end of President Mubarak era, between 2000 and 2011. Next, the paper documents political events that took place after Mubarak’s outset in February 2011. The body of the paper analyzes these events at the national level and how it relates to policies at the university level.
The literature review relates directly to the theme of the CIES conference 2015 as it discusses how the centralized government in Egypt has founded abilities to control the higher education sector, which is predominately public, in order to produce one predetermined kind of knowledge. These seemingly dominant established historical patterns continue to influence higher education policies that limit the academic freedom of professors and research. Even though, universities have played a major role in empowering people and promoting political awareness and have been the birth place of many activist movements that are calling for both political and academic freedom.

Author

• Manar Sabry, The College at Brockport