Two years later, private universities are officially leaving the Tansik system behind and sticking to direct admissions: The Higher Education Ministry’s Supreme Council of Private Universities is set to officially scrap the centralized admissions platform that imposed a Tansik-style system for private and nonprofit universities, two years after it introduced the platform, several sources confirmed to Enterprise. The council had temporarily changed the admissions process for the current academic year after determining that it was not best serving the needs of universities or students. After a further assessment, the council has decided to make the change official for the 2023-24 academic year, with a few additional changes, our sources said.

REFRESHER- The council had launched the centralized admissions platform in February 2021 as it looked to create an administrative and regulatory platform for the admissions process. The system was designed to end the practice of universities opening up seats to students who have the ability to pay but do not necessarily meet the academic requirements imposed on the rest of the student body. The original Tansik-style system required students to apply to the platform and indicate their preferred majors and university, and provide their grades. The platform would then assign students to universities, with the assignments based primarily on their grades and the number of places available at each faculty at each university. Assignments were prioritized based on grade points, with students with the highest grades getting first dibs.

Things weren’t exactly working out: One year after its introduction, the council decided tochange the system ​​to one that more closely resembles the UK’s UCAS platform, allowing students to apply to their university of choice through the university website. Universities are then responsible for registering the student’s application on the portal, but these portals are wired with a mirroring system allowing the council to track the applications as they are submitted and monitor how they are processed to keep things transparent.

The new system has fared much better, pushing the council to make it official: The reworked admissions system was introduced last year on a trial basis as the council looked to address issues of corruption, with the understanding that it could change the system again. Connecting the universities’ admissions portals to the council allowed the council and ministry to oversee the process, making procedures more transparent, council head Mohamed Helmy El Ghar told Enterprise.

There are some tweaks: The council has decided to cancel aptitude test requirements for students applying to mass media, nursing, tech, and industrial education faculties, as well as health and nursing technical institutes, but these requirements will remain in place for students applying to physical education, sports, music, arts, applied arts, fine arts, and educational faculties, our sources told us. The council has also decided to do away with rules governing the geographical distribution of students with a Thanaweya Amma degree or equivalent international degrees who are applying for spots in nursing and education or specialized education faculties, as well as those applying to technical institutes for health or nursing, according to our sources.

Private universities are cheering the move: After voicing their concerns about the centralized admissions system and its effects on their profitability, private university representatives we spoke with are all broadly happy with the council’s decision to scrap the Tansik system and allow universities to select their students based on their own criteria, including language skills and other abilities. “Keeping the new system in place is a move in the right direction, and giving private universities the authority to determine what they need to maintain their competitiveness — with oversight and supervision from the Higher Education Ministry — is ideal,” Future University President Obada Sarhan told Enterprise. Nahda University President Hossam El Malahy echoed the sentiment, telling us that the direct admissions system is in the best interest of students and universities alike.

Your top education story for the week:German will be introduced as an elective second language in public schools in the 2024-2025 academic year, according to an Education Ministry statement.

Tags: