Cairo University, founded in 19081February, is the largest comprehensive university in Egypt and an influential university in the Arab world. Cairo University has 23 departments, including art, law, medicine, economy, politics, science and engineering, commerce, engineering, medicine, dentistry and agriculture. There are statistics, African issues, tumors, various research centers, etc. 100 more than scientific research departments; Students155,000; There are about 15000 faculty members. In addition to local students, Cairo University has gathered scholars from all over the world. Since the 1960s, China has sent overseas students to study at Cairo University almost every year. After returning home, these overseas students have become one of the important forces in China's diplomatic and foreign trade front.
The distance open education in Cairo University began in the early 1990s, and its important symbol is the Cairo University Open Education Center, which was established on 19901February 10. For this center, Egyptian President Hosni muhammed hosni mubarak has an expectation. He said: "In the next few years, Egypt will enter a period of educational development and cultural revival. This great project will determine the future of Egypt and the fate of Egyptian children and play a real role in depicting a beautiful picture of the future. " ? 2? Since then, it has become an important part of the development of education in Egypt to develop national education through distance open education and improve the overall quality of the people. As a national project, the development and perfection of open education has gradually attracted the attention and active participation of all walks of life in Egypt.
Open to all kinds of people in society.
The goal of open education in Cairo University is to provide opportunities for learners and workers who are interested in improving the level of science, technology and culture, including adequate and unique learning opportunities for those who are not suitable for studying in the traditional higher education system.
In Egypt, thousands of family members complete their studies in ordinary high schools every year, and many learners have obtained high school equivalent certificates, but most of them cannot enter regular colleges for further study. For these people, the policy of open education is that anyone who gets a high school or Azhar University (Azhar University is the most influential religious university in Egypt, which is unique in that it includes all levels from middle school to university, and every level implements the preparatory system. Only after passing the preparatory study and examination can you formally study in middle school or university. At present, there are about100000 students at all levels in the school. —— Author's Note) Those who have graduated from a secondary school for more than five years (including five years) or have the equivalent education (such as a secondary specialized school or a technical school) can join the distance open learning ranks without taking the exam and continue to learn the knowledge of their interested majors or related fields. This not only provides opportunities for school-age learners to realize their learning aspirations, but also greatly reduces the burden on the country. Due to the effective use of limited teaching resources in open education, many people who study not only for obtaining university diplomas, but for practical work needs no longer need to study in traditional universities with formal education as the mainstay, thus reducing the state's investment in traditional universities.
In addition, in adult continuing education, distance open education is open to all learners with high school background who are willing to receive higher education, providing opportunities for practitioners in various industries to learn knowledge in other professional fields. On the one hand, help workers in different fields master the knowledge and skills needed for their career development and innovation; On the other hand, it provides interdisciplinary course services and degree education. As an agricultural country, Egypt's agriculture plays an important role in its national economy. Therefore, the open education of Cairo University attaches great importance to agricultural projects. In Egypt, many people own desert land. They need to improve land, plan and manage agricultural and animal husbandry production, and invest in animal and plant resources. They also need a lot of knowledge. Therefore, by setting relevant courses in open education, learners can acquire the required professional knowledge and skills through distance open education. Some of them may have obtained bachelor's degrees in business statistics and other disciplines in the past, but now they can obtain bachelor's degrees in desert soil improvement and planting through distance open learning. In addition, the open education of Cairo University is also open to Egyptians and overseas returnees, so that they can finally get better job opportunities.
Distance open education is also open to active servicemen and police. The specific policy stipulates that officers shall be examined and approved by the Training Bureau of the Armed Forces, and other soldiers shall provide corresponding transcripts and approvals from the Armed Forces Registration Bureau (organs and departments); The admission of police officers should be approved by the Military Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Interior, and other police officers should submit corresponding transcripts and the approval of the Security Bureau of the Ministry of Interior.
In a word, the open education of Cairo University is based on the educational concept of modern distance learning, deepening the educational reform, providing a learning model suitable for individual needs for those learners who cannot continue their studies in traditional universities, and facilitating learners to complete their studies through the combination of individual self-study and regular face-to-face tutoring by tutors in the uninterrupted practical work process.
Implementation according to law and classified management
The promotion of distance open education in Egypt attaches importance to laws and regulations as the basic guarantee. As an important part of Cairo University, the Open Education Center has made its own efforts in formulating corresponding laws, regulations and system construction. First of all, we must abide by the laws and regulations related to education, such as 1972 Law No.49 of President People's Republic of China (PRC) on the Organization and Modification of Universities, and Law No.809 of President People's Republic of China (PRC) on Promulgating the Regulations on the Organization and Modification of Universities. Secondly, on 1998 1 month, the Egyptian Ministry of Education made a "relevant decision on applying laws to implement open education in the Law School of Cairo University"; In the same year 1 1 month, the Egyptian Ministry of Education decided to implement open education in the journalism major of the School of Journalism, Cairo University. By 19901February, the Council of Egypt's Supreme University adopted the Decision on Establishing the Open Education Center of Cairo University. At the same time, the Egyptian Ministry of Education has formulated the "Training Plan for Translators" and decided to take the lead in implementing open education in the departments of literature (English, French, German, Spanish, Persian and Hebrew) of Cairo University. ? 3?
According to the above laws and decisions, the Open Education Center of Cairo University has gradually standardized and developed the teaching, research and learning support services of distance open education. Pay attention to the implementation of curriculum-based teaching in non-academic continuing education such as post and vocational training. For example, in March of 199 1, an open education course for business and agriculture was opened; 1March 1998, an open education course on translation and application of law was opened; 1March, 1999, the open journalism education course was launched. In distance open education, for some majors, the open education center has the right to award bachelor's degrees, and clearly stipulates the courses and credits needed to complete the study of each major. Generally, each course averages about 3 credits, specific to the major:
Finance and business majors: 40 credits are required, with no more than 5 elective courses per semester, involving accounting, management and insurance.
Desert soil improvement and planting major: 48 credits are required, with no more than 6 elective courses per semester, including practical training.
Applied law major: 52 credits are required. In principle, there are no more than 5 elective courses per semester. This major is limited to students who have graduated from high schools or affiliated middle schools in Azhar.
Journalism major: 40 credits are required, with no more than 5 elective courses per semester. Students must pass the interview before they can enter the school.
Translation, English and French: each major requires 40 credits, and no more than 5 elective courses are required each semester. Students must pass the English or French proficiency test before entering the school. ? 4?
In practice, there are preconditions for choosing some courses or majors. For example, for students who choose to study applied law, if they hold a diploma from the secondary school affiliated to Azhar University, their admission criteria should refer to the original course scores, and the total score should account for more than 50% of the total score. In addition, people who have graduated from secondary specialized schools or technical schools and have worked for less than five years cannot enter open learning. For those who choose journalism and translation, they must interview and pass the exam before they can sign up for open learning.
The open education center adopts the registration system, and students register once every semester. All admission documents and student registration materials should be filed, and individuals are not allowed to consult the files for any reason during their study. If students drop out of school, or get a bachelor's degree after completing credits, students can take out their personal certificates.
From the point of view of encouraging learning, for learners with technical secondary school education or above, if they can show the transcripts of previous course examinations when registering for related majors, they are allowed to be exempted from taking related courses, but the maximum number of courses exempted is 10.
The Open Education Center of Cairo University is responsible for distance open education, implementing internal and external systems. For Egyptian students who choose to study business and agriculture, they need to pay 100 Egyptian pounds (1 Egyptian pounds 1.6 yuan RMB, 2002); Choose law, translation and news, and pay 125 Egyptian pounds. For international students majoring in finance, business, law, translation, journalism, etc., they are required to pay a registration fee of 1000 Australian dollars (1 Australian dollars is about 2002 1.5 yuan RMB); Choose desert soil improvement and planting major, pay 1500 Australian dollars, and students must pay it in one lump sum when they enter school.
In the process of study, both domestic students and foreign students need to pay course credit fees. Business major, every credit 100 Australian dollars; Agriculture, law and translation, each credit 125 Australian dollars, the course fee includes books and tapes. In addition, you have to pay the examination service fee, and the standard is 10 Egyptian pounds per course.
Individual majors also have some special charging regulations. If you choose to major in news translation, both Egyptian students and foreign students have to pay a professional entrance fee of 20 Egyptian pounds. If it is the first time to register, you need an additional admission fee. Egyptian students pay 30 Egyptian pounds and foreign students pay 55 dollars.
Pay attention to teaching support service and establish social image
In order to facilitate learners, the distance open education of Cairo University pays attention to teaching support services. The Open Education Center has a student affairs office, a learning support service office and a public relations and publicity office.
The Student Affairs Office is the first window to contact students receiving open education. It handles all kinds of registration procedures for learners, including verifying students' original materials with the most advanced technical means, handling student ID cards and exempting from military service; Procedures for living in the university town during the examination; Coordinate relevant departments to arrange exams, etc. The Open Education Center believes that letting students know the examination schedule as early as possible can facilitate students to choose courses appropriately and accurately, so that the examination time of this semester will not conflict with the make-up date of the subjects that failed last semester.
The Learning Support Service Department is responsible for teaching plan, textbook printing, video tape copying, location shooting, animation production, and digital management of the library. Books and audio-visual tapes are also distributed in the form of selling or renting. Is there a printing factory under the learning support service department? Part of the equipment in this factory comes from China, which undertakes the printing of teaching materials and other reference materials for open education, including the printing of course exercises, previous examination questions and their standard answers. The prepared educational programs can be sent via Nile satellite, and some courses can be completed on the computer. Students can learn related courses on the computer, including questions, exercises and answers. In the process of implementing distance open teaching, there is also a conventional face-to-face teaching system. Hold lectures every Friday, organize teachers to answer questions about related courses and discuss with students and teachers. It is not mandatory for students to come every Friday, and attendance does not count. Because Egypt implements the Islamic work and rest system, the weekly rest day is Friday. However, for each regular face-to-face lecture, the Learning Support Service Department will arrange a video and play it at an appropriate time. Of course, students can also borrow regular face-to-face videos, and they can also buy these face-to-face videos if they want.
Expanding the public image inside and outside open education is mainly undertaken by public relations and propaganda departments. Mainly responsible for organizing and coordinating the relationship between the center and other relevant units, including contacting various magazines, radio, television and other media, holding or participating in exhibitions related to open education; Internally responsible for the coordination and consultation among the center staff, including introducing the center to freshmen, showing advanced figures with academic achievements and experts undertaking special research projects, organizing learners to participate in social practice in social institutions (such as orphanages) that need help, and helping learners form a sense of collective belonging that has never been seen before; At the same time, he is also responsible for students' cultural, artistic, sports and social affairs. Through its own bimonthly magazine, it publishes news information that learners are concerned about, students' manuscripts and answers questions related to open education from public media or people, thus establishing and realizing the interaction between students, students and the center, and the center and the public.
Incentive measures in distance open education
In order to make the experiment of distance open education successful and help outstanding learners complete their studies, Cairo University has formulated the reward system for participants in open education. For example, set up an "Excellence Award" for students' study. The students who can win this honor come from three parts: first, the top five students with the best academic performance each semester; The second is to choose 50% students with excellent academic performance; Third, choose 37.5% among students with good academic performance. Set up a "special award" for faculty and staff. People who can win this honor also come from three aspects: first, employees working in Cairo University, and the number of winners accounts for about 50% of the total number; The second is to select five workers from Giza province; The third is to select five members from journalists' unions and their families. In addition, a "social award" has been specially set up for married students, and students who win this award can reduce their tuition fees by 25%. To apply for the "Social Award", three conditions need to be met: First, at least 60% of the courses registered for study last semester must pass; The second is to submit social research results and personal wage income; Third, no free application was submitted at the time of admission.
Due to the importance of distance education and the achievements made by the Open Education Center of Cairo University, the Egyptian government further increased its attention and investment in distance education in 2002. It not only set up a distance education classroom in the building of the Science and Technology Development Department of the Ministry of Education, but also built a new Mubarak Education City named after the President in the desert. Education City is a comprehensive education center, which is responsible for organizing teacher training, large-scale teaching activities and students' scientific and technological activities.
To sum up, Egypt advocates further improving national quality and cultivating social applied talents through distance open education. Through the practice of the Open Education Center of Cairo University, the distance open education in Egypt has made great achievements, and many research results have also appeared in the international related education field. There are many things in it, such as many practices in learning support services, which are worth learning and learning from.