Azhar University will allocate 180 million EGP to develop the faculties that do not have buildings, such as the Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine in Damietta. It will also inaugurate branches for the university at Sinai and Minya, head of Azhar University Osama al-Abd told Youm7 Tuesday.
Abd said they restored 130 acres owned by university in Damietta where they will construct university buildings and expand other buildings. University campuses aim to hold a capacity of about 23,000 thousand students up from 19,000.
They will expand four buildings that Indonesia granted to Egypt, two for Egyptian students and two for Indonesian students, he said and that any student who participated in last year’s “chaos” will not be accepted in the University. Student protests broke out against the dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood from Rabaa in August in 2013 and then against the protest law and the presence of the Ministry of Interior on university campus.
Azhar University has witnessed numerous violent clashes between students supporting Former President Mohamed Morsi and security forces, since the beginning of the academic year.
Abd decided early May to expel 76 students over their alleged involvement in riots and violence on university campus, MENA reported. He said the university takes any legal action necessary against anyone found to be involved in violence.
“The decision was made after investigations conducted by the university with the students,” he said. “The investigation proved the students took part in activities which violated university regulations.”
Another 27 Azhar students were expelled on April 2 for violent acts and riots that broke out on campus on March 31.
Abd said they will develop the university council hall, construct a Faculty of Graduate studies, and restructure the Faculty of Commerce after it was burned down by students last year.
The second semester at Azhar University resumed on March 15 after it was postponed for three consecutive times for security reason. The university administration approved the presence of Ministry of Interior forces on university campus on a daily basis.
On May 14, Azhar University Media Coordinator Hossam Shaker told The Cairo Post that they will close its on-campus housing for students from May 22 to 31, during which students and university’s employees will be on vacation.
A source told Youm7 in May that the situation at the on-campus housing for students was critical and cannot be controlled.
Shaker said all students will be asked to leave the housing, even those who have not finished their exams, which will be suspended during this period.
A total of 36 Azhar University students were sentenced to four years in prison on May 11 with labor. A journalist was acquitted over charges related to violence outside the university in December when Azhar students blocked roads, attacked bystanders, and damaged private cars and stores, according to Al-Watan News.
