GUC (German University in Cairo) Protest
Today around 300-400 GUC students protested against the way the university has been run for the last few years (which some have described as corrupt and opportunistic), and below are their list of demands:
Personal take on this: Although most of the demands are legitimate, I find 9, 10, 13, 28, 29 quite frankly unreasonable, ridiculous, and would contribute to a lower quality of education and graduates. Passing/graduation should NOT be this flexible/easy in my humble opinion. If they really want to follow through with the German model, it should be even harder to graduate, which the GUC have long compromised for the sake of making sure they make enough money. The other thing about the list of demands is that its too long, and some of the demands are trivial in comparison with a demand like establishing a Students Union, making the list of demands as a whole harder to take seriously.
1. Student Union (Main Demand).
2. Student Union should participate in Upper Management Meetings as well participating in deciding new rules and policies.
3. Clear documents of the university current and previous policies (published on the intranet).
4. Medical & Circumstantial Excuses should be accepted for first and second make ups.
5. First make up shouldn’t cost any fees and shouldn’t be obligatory.
6. Second make up and Improvement Exam should cost 1000 EGP or less.
7. The exit exam should be allowed to be in 2 or more courses and could be taken at any semester (odd or even).
8. Cancellation of repeated hour fees (300 EGP) as it isn’t based on anything ligament.
9. Failing final (Ff) policy should be canceled.
10. Student can enter any number of make ups regardless of his current advising situation.
11. Fees should be increased only twice overall the studying period as stated in policy.
12. Remarking should cost 100 EGP and we get to meet the Dr.
13. The maximum failure percentage of any course should not exceed 30% of the total students taking this course.
14. Attendance & Assignment submission guarantee.
15. Quizzes & Exams attendance guarantee.
16. Solving the parking problem.
17. More efficient copy centers.
18. Improvement of admission staff attitude.
19. Increasing the number of computer labs as well as improving & maintaining of computers software.
20. Grades should be out in a timely manner with respect to the makeup schedule.
21. Disciplinary actions should be taken towards TAs & Drs as well as Students conducting a bad behavior.
22. Bachelor Project should be allowed in the summer.
23. Better & Cheaper Transportation with more rounds.
24. Reopening & increasing the number of study rooms.
25. More sport & entertainment facilities.
26. Excuses for sports practice..
27. Allowing at least 4 extra credit hours for a student to add per semester, and unlimited credit hours for graduates, and it should cost less than 950 EGP.
28. There should be “daragat ra2fa”
29. The policy about Traveling abroad for doing the bachelor thesis for a GPA less than 2.5 should be changed.
30. Students whom are traveling abroad for doing a bachelor thesis should not pay the semester fees.
31. The opportunity to make our schedules.
32. Making a new ID should cost less if broken or lost.
33. Accessible Intranet Folders from home.
34. Discount/Scholarship merging should be wisely managed according to the student case.
35. Relatives discount should not be cancelled after relative’s graduation.
36. Informing in case of Category revaluation before the next installment of fees.
37. Staff & Course evaluation should be taken in consideration.
38. A Trusted Committee for evaluating exams.
39. The model answers of exams should be published on the intranet before remarking.
40. More courses and credit hours offered in summer.
41. Better planning for the courses of the faculty of applied arts.
42. Physics TAs.
43. German courses should be improved (Contents, TAs).
44. Educational Institutes are to provide services for a reasonable amount of money, not overloading the students with payments because they need the service.
45. Registration certificate costs and time should be less.
GUC’s administration response to the demands:
“Upon receiving students’ requests to create an elected student body, the GUC university council has discussed proper means to reach this common goal. As a result the GUC announces the foundation of the Student Council. The Student Council will have elected representatives from all faculties and study groups and will serve the primary purpose of communicating the students’ needs and interests to the administration and faculties as well as provide a variety of academic, cultural and sport services and activities to the GUC students through its various committees. This should be done without any enforcement of ideological, partisan or religious views and practices. Therefore, through keeping the values of the GUC, this Student Council will complement GUC’s mission and its quest to enrich student life.
All students will be provided with a link. Those who wish to run for elections will have an opportunity to upload:
· A personal picture
· Their contact info
· Their mission statement
· 5 brief points to describe their working agendas.
The code of conduct and the statutes of the Student Council will be posted within 3 weeks. Fielding of candidates shall start after the make-up exams.
We wish you all the best in the upcoming Spring Semester.
Regards
Student Affairs”
Sources: Michael Maher & Ahmed Farahat.
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