Egypt imposes new fees on private university students

Egypt has ordered private universities and higher education institutes to collect ten Egyptian pounds from all students, local media reported yesterday.

According to a decree issued by the Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, the fee will be placed in a state-initiated fund to provide “the needed care to the families of martyrs, wounded people and missing security personnel in anti-terrorist operations.”

“The fee collection will start during the academic year 2019-20,” the decree read.

Egypt’s private universities and higher education institutions would be obliged to collect the “contributions” on an annual basis from their newly-enrolled students. “Once the fee is collected, the money must immediately be transferred to the fund,” the ministry pointed out.

In recent days, the Egyptian parliament has approved a bill to impose additional fees on driving licenses, permits, documents, certificates and official documents issued by the country’s interior ministry for a “Police Fund”.

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