Egypt’s cabinet approved on Wednesday amendments to the law governing universities in a manner which adds new conditions for expelling faculty members, including the involvement in partisan activities.
The cabinet had approved in September a presidential decree amending the same law in a manner which allows university chairmen to expel faculty members who "commit crimes which disturb the educational process.”
The amended legislation had also banned faculty members from "participating in, inciting or facilitating protests which would halt the educational process …"
The amendments await the presidency's approval to come into force.
University campuses have witnessed unprecedented violence throughout the past academic year, with at least 16 students killed amid on-campus protests, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression's Student Observatory.
The pro-Mohamed Mursi "Students against the coup" movement has been organising protests against the former Islamist president's military ouster throughout the past academic year as well as this one. Protests often devolve into clashes with security forces.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued on October 23 a law to reorganise al-Azhar and its institutions, including the Azhar University. The law allows the expulsion of faculty staff, employees and students who partake in acts of violence.
