Egyptian Official Gazette on 5 July published a decree issued by the President of the Republic, granting several academic degrees to graduates of military academies.
Based on the decision, a graduate of the Military Academy who would have obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Military Sciences, will be awarded a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Economics, or Statistics.
Also, a graduate of the Naval Academy will obtain a Bachelor’s degree in political science, a graduate of the Air Academy will obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and computers and information, and a graduate of the Air Defense Academy will obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering.
In its issue of 6 July 2022, the Official Gazette published the decree of Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, in his capacity as President of the Republic, regarding determination of the academic degrees to be awarded to graduates of various faculties of the Egyptian Military Academy.
The decision has raised many questions about causes that led to issuance of such decree, the way it will be implemented, its effects, and its commitment to standards of merit, equal opportunities and quality.
Commenting on the decree, Mohamed El-Hashmi El-Hamdi, a Twitter user, tweeted: A joke! – Sisi has decided to grant graduates of military academies a bachelor’s degree in political science, economics and statistics, starting from the next academic year. Unfortunately, this news is true, not a joke.
What is this nonsense? What is this madness?
Poor Egypt and its people. It is the rule of the military.
The rule of holders of arms in the face of the defenseless!!
Nadia El-magd, another Twitter user, retweeted a tweet by the Cairo-24 news website on Sisi’s decree to grant academic decrees to graduates of the military academies. Commenting on the tweet, she says:
After making fun of students of history and geography disciplines, the Official Gazette publishes Al-Sisi’s decree on the academic degrees to be granted to graduates of various faculties of the Military Academy, where graduates of the Military Academy are due to be awarded a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics – No to the militarization of social sciences in Egypt.
Another Twitter user, Mahmoud, tweeted, saying: The decision to grant an additional bachelor’s degree to graduates of military academies -who have not even opened a book for eight years, mostly aims to enable the military to manage everything in the state, even the positions that legally stipulate that their occupants should hold certain academic degrees.
This is how the military think. Everything that is civilian is a failure and useless, but we, the military, are the most successful people.
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s decree stated:
Article 1: Upgrading the qualification of graduates of the Egyptian Military Academy’s faculties, scientifically and practically, to serve in the armed forces. The Minister of Defense grants the graduates of the faculties mentioned the bachelor’s degree awarded by Egyptian universities concerned, after the graduates meets the requirements in force to obtain these degrees:
1- Graduates of the Military Aademy are to be awarded a bachelor’s degree in political science, economics, and statistics.
2- Graduates of the Naval Academy will be awarded a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.
3- Graduates of the Air Academy are to be awarded a bachelor’s degree in commerce and business administration, specializing in aviation and airport management. They are also awarded a bachelor’s degree in computers and information, specializing in aviation information systems.
4- Graduates of the Air Defense Academy will be awarded a bachelor’s degree in communications, electronics, computer and systems engineering, mechatronics and robotics.
Article Two: The Minister of Defense determines one of the internal regulations in force and in force in one of the colleges that grant the same degrees mentioned in the previous article to work accordingly in the academic system of study and examinations for graduates to obtain them. The disciplines, curricula, mechanism of teaching, and examination system and standards are to be determined in the same system that a certain college follows.
Article Three: This decision shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall apply to new students enrolled in the faculties of the Egyptian Military Academy, starting from the academic year 2022-2030.
