*Edit: for those unaware, this post has been sent directly to Dr. Ashraf Mansour and members of the Guc's board of trustees and I pledged to post his reply if he wishes to issue one directly here, so far he did not respond*
Because there are places in the world where you go to University in order to be taught and cultivated. You are treated with respect because only then will you have dignity. You are expected to speak your mind because only then will you have character. You engage in shaping your Institution, because you are a part of it.
Not so in the Guc. In the Guc, you are expected to listen humbly because otherwise you'll be too much of a bother. You are expected to accept insult in humility because only then will you show proper respect to the vanity of those above you. You are expected to be lied to like an idiot, dragged from office to office for the simple cause of demanding what you've paid for -- what your parents have worked hard and toiled and sacrificed hard to provide for you: an Education.
You are expected to beg and plead, You are expected to applaud condescending treatment. Why? They'll provide many explanations, but the truth is, for the past 8 years since its founding; each and every policy in the Guc had not been introduced for the welfare of the Student, but rather, for the comfort and profiteering of its Upper Management.
I say Upper Management and I mean the Owners, because everyone knows the University President is in this reality powerless, the reigns of leadership belong to the office of Ashraf Mansour, prime founder and chairman of G.U.C.
Not that I would've minded Dr. Mansour's leadership, if it was as he always claims 'for the love of country, knowledge and people'. I wouldn't have minded it if I haven't, for the past 7 years, seen young talents wasted; Students who's only aim was to learn and achieve, to do something. Seen Young people setting out early on the path of their life, only to hit a blocked road. A road where they learn from unlearned teachers, where their work's worth would be lost just because of one stupid regulation or policy Dr. Mansour has laid down on a whim.
They'd fail courses their Professors would've let them pass, that they were worthy enough to pass, only because they were good students but they were sick and the University's Medical Office was not convinced and called their excuse a Lie. Because their grandparent has died the night before the examination, but that, to Ashraf Mansour, was not a reason good enough: His student's troubles are never good enough if gets them out of repeating costly courses or paying for make-up exams or gets them out of being delayed behind in their studies and enriching the university with repeated semester fees. If it wastes the opportunity for more Money, its not good enough. This place is not about Education.
In some other institutions a lecturer holding a doctorate, the highest degree in the land, would be in charge of Education But this is not about Education, people, remember that! In some other institutions, this lecturer would take a class of 20, 30 students under his care. Would Mentor them, engage them in discussion, inspire and encourage their intellectual curiosity.
Not in the Guc. the Brochure might say 'small class sizes' but those are the classes taught by the secondary TA's, Teaching Assistants, not the doctorate holder. Rather, this one finds himself in a packed hall with anywhere from 300 to 50 students to dispose of quickly before moving on to the second and third course, where more packed halls and more unhappy students await, all sitting there frustrated of the waste of effort and time, because They don't can't understand.
I say dispose because yes, thats what the reality is in the Guc. Its not our Academic Staff's fault, but those Staff are not superhuman, they're overloaded, overworked, they take many more students and courses than any other respectable institution of similar resources assigns to its teachers. They're given burdens more than they can take.
Its not right to demand a newly graduate BSc holder, to tackle on the responsibilities of teaching a university level course, grade it, examine it - without giving them any training whatsoever in any one of those aspects, without giving them the Time to be able to pull it off even if they wanted! without giving them the Rewards which they are privy to. Guc TAs earn about 2200 LE a month, did you know that? Less than some primary school teachers, or call-center tellers, or many other Less-qualified professions.
Which means simply that the Guc's aim is to attract Less-qualfied talent than Primary school teachers. That'd be a joke if it wasn't tragic. Many good TA's stay at the Guc, either because they're graduates of this university and Sentimentality holds them to it, or they feel it beneficial for them to have a University Teaching stint on their resumes. Even so, the University should not exploit them this way. Besides, they stay temporarily and go.
Many great and loved Professors had came to the Guc and left during my stay, they all resigned. Why? Because Ashraf Mansour pushed them to. Ashraf Mansour had Vision, Ashraf Mansour had good Management. All Guc students agree that they hate their University's Policies, their University's System, the rules imposed by the Smartest-IT-Center-On-The-Earth. The Academic Staff hates it. But Ashraf Mansour insists. Why should one man's profit hold a whole institution down? A generation-after-generation of well-wishing students, the many Academics who have come to this university to uphold the mission of Learning and he wouldn't let them. Why?
On March 11th, Guc Students voiced their demands to Dr. Ashraf Mansour, they waited for hours for the reply they've been promised a week before by Dr. Ashraf Mansour, after being left out in the Sun with not even the slightest courtesy of a response, remember, this is Dr. Ashraf Mansour we're talking about: He's higher than having to respond to anyone.
They shouted and screamed asking to see him. He did not agree.
He went as far as promising to meet them in H15 if they leave the vicinity of his office. He did not go down.
He promised to see their representatives. He did not. He promised again to go down for a second time! Guess what? He broke his word for the second time. Is this Children's Play 'Le3b 3eyal'? I don't know whether to laugh or cry. In my humble opinion, that's not conduct becoming any man in position, let alone a University Chairman.
So Mr. Chairman, please tell me: Why would a University Chairman who cowards out from even talking to his Students, serve as a Chairman? Why would a University Chairman who failed and failed for 8 years to gain the approval the students and the academic staff of his institution, stay as its Chairman? Why would a Man who does not respect his Students, their Professors, or their Teachers -- Your external relations Manager shouted down a student for not saying 'Dr' before mentioning your name because it was 'lack of respect' -- Mr. Chairman, why would you stay as Chairman, and keep your University and the people its built on down, if you don't Respect them at all? Why, Chairman?
