Fate of a foreign degree
the ministry of higher education has refused to recognize the faculty of law of the beni suef open university of egypt. those who had graduated from this university refused to accept the decision of the ministry and one of the graduates resorted to the judiciary and the court of first instance ruled in the favor of the student.
the ministry then decided to form a committee of experts headed by the minister of higher education to visit beni suef university and the committee came to the conclusion that the ministry had taken the right decision.
the ministry then went to the court of appeals but the court upheld the verdict of the court of first instance, following which the ministry appealed the verdict before the court of cassation, which ordered that a committee of academicians be formed comprising members from the kuwait university teaching staff before it (the court) issues the verdict.
the court of cassation headed by judge mohammad yousef rifai obliged the ministry of higher education to recognize the open education system which is being applied in a number of egyptian universities, which require the students to meet the standard time (academic years) to obtain a degree.
the court of cassation based its verdict saying: “the decision in the jurisdiction of this court is that the assessment of scientifi c qualifi cations and the accreditation of academic certifi cates, the administrative judiciary has the right to control the decision issued by rejecting the accreditation of the certifi cate and to study the reasons to identify the extent of legitimacy and correctness based on the case papers.”
the court added it has the right although it is a technical issue that falls within the administrative authority of the competent educational authorities in accordance with the rules and technical standards to be determined in this regard.
the court also added it has the authority to collect and understand the reality of the case, and examine the evidences presented, and to take into account what is reassuring and reject others.
the court said the opinion of the committee of experts that was assigned by the court is no more than an element of evidence at its discretion, so the court might accept his opinion, or part of it or refuse it altogether.
the court added it has established its judgment on the causes that will lead to the conclusion and in agreement with what is fixed in the case papers.
the court found that the defendant had obtained a bachelor in law degree in the open education system at beni suef university in april 2014, and the administrative authority refrained from accrediting his certificate.
the said authority pointed out that the reason for its abstention is that the open education system is not recognized in kuwait and that it violates a number of decisions and regulations taken by the ministry which prohibits recognition of diplomas obtained through correspondence, guided external study, or remote examination or those obtained through non-traditional regulations that do not apply to citizens registered at the kuwait university.
of course, we have no choice but to accept the ruling of the court of cassation, but we wonder what will be the position of the ministry towards the graduate of the arab open university from seven arab countries?