The warning comes as the university admission coordination phase for secondary school graduates begins, amid indications of a slight increase in admission scores compared to last year. The Egyptian Doctors Association said it has received information that two faculties are implementing admission standards starting from 50%, which has triggered deep concern and dissatisfaction within the association.
The association emphasised that the issue is that some institutions are basing their admission policies on the standards of their home countries, which do not set a minimum threshold equivalent to Egyptian standards. The association stated that this cannot be used as justification for applying foreign standards to medical education in Egypt. The association urged Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly and Minister of Higher Education Abdulaziz Qansua to intervene immediately and force these faculties to implement the minimum threshold set for private Egyptian medical faculties without exception.
The association stressed that Egyptian standards should be applied to all medical faculties operating in Egypt, regardless of their affiliation, nationality or legal status. The association said there cannot be faculties operating within the country according to different admission standards from other medical faculties, which would create a parallel system and threaten Egypt's medical education ecosystem.
Abdul Rahman Mustafa, a member of the association's board, told Sky News Arabia that the association has repeatedly warned about the expansion in creating new medical faculties that admit students with low scores. Mustafa said that some of these new faculties are private and are not supervised by known higher education regulatory bodies, and the main problem is the availability of affiliated university hospitals. Mustafa said that successive warnings are intended to protect the standards of Egyptian medical education and Egyptian doctors, as reckless expansion in creating medical faculties without requirement studies and without university hospitals threatens the reputation of Egyptian doctors.
Regarding the minimum admission threshold, Mustafa said that this issue is the subject of major dispute, noting that private faculties that admit students with a difference of about 5 per cent below the minimum threshold are in a better position, compared to faculties that admit with a much larger difference. Mustafa warned that students who enrol at faculties that admit students with much lower scores may face difficulties in the future related to practice licensing or registration with the doctors association.
A source at the Ministry of Higher Education told Sky News Arabia that the ministry is studying the association's complaint regarding the minimum admission threshold at some medical faculties, and will take necessary action if there is a violation. The Egyptian Doctors Association previously warned that graduates of medical faculties, both within and outside Egypt, who enrol at faculties with scores below the threshold set by the association, will not be registered. The association requires that the difference between a student's secondary school exam score and the minimum threshold for Egyptian government medical faculties should not exceed 5 per cent in the year they obtained their secondary school certificate, and said it will not accept students with academic credentials below that standard.
