EGYPT: President steps into Nile University vs Zewail fray

A decree by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to establish a national scientific research project has fuelled a 20-month dispute between the private Nile University and a research institution managed by Nobel Prize for Chemistry laureate Ahmed Zewail.

Morsi has decreed turning Zewail City for Science and Technology (ZCST) into Egypt's National Project for Scientific Renaissance, almost two months after an Egyptian court gave Nile University part of a disputed campus and facilities and the rest to ZCST.

In his decree, Morsi said the project would be an independent, non-profit scientific research-oriented institution. It will comprise a university for science and technology and institutes in the fields of energy, medical science, the environment, space, economics, nanotechnology and information and communication systems.


Although the presidential decree has not specified the exact location of the project, officials of Nile University are worried that it will be established on the disputed land and facilities.

“We are not against this project, but should it be established at the expense of a university which has been in existence since 2006?” said Abdel Aziz Hegazi, the chair of Nile University's board of trustees.

“The decree is biased towards Zewail and ZCST. Although the Administrative Court ruled in our favour, the verdict has not been enforced due to the appeal filed by ZCST against it,” Hegazi added. “The president should have waited until a final court ruling is issued."

In November, the court ordered that Nile University regain one of two disputed buildings and 28 hectares (70 acres) of the 53-hectare campus in 6th of October City outside Cairo, in addition to receiving LE150 million (US$25 million) in compensation.

The ruling cancelled decisions by two former prime ministers, who had given ZCST control over all buildings and the whole campus of Nile University. The court gave the other building and 25 hectares to ZCST.

Nile University, a non-profit institution, has said it paid LE62 million to the former government of toppled president Hosni Mubarak for a 99-year lease on the campus.

Almost two months after the ruling, the university's staff and students say they are not allowed onto the campus.

“We are checking with the university's legal advisors about the implications of the [presidential] decree,” said Hegazi. “Students have the right to express their concerns about their future and university,” he told the independent newspaper Al Masry Al Youm.

Nile University students have been staging a sit-in outside the disputed property for almost five months, attending classes inside tents they pitched outside the campus.

ZCST officials welcomed Morsi's move. “The decree completes the legal entity of ZCST and its basic components,” said Sherif Fouad, ZCST media advisor. He described the project as an outcome of the popular revolt that forced Mubarak to step down two years ago.

“One of the key objectives of this project is to cooperate with research centres and universities…to put Egypt on the world's scientific research map.”

Under Morsi’s decree, the project will have a consultative council made up of at least 18 national and foreign members, with the chairman and half of the body being Egyptians.

In recent remarks, Zewail said he was not part of the dispute and that he has repeatedly sought to help the Nile University students.

“Dr Zewail has suggested to students to get merged into his city and have their graduation certificates carrying the name of Zewail's City,” said Ahmed Nassar, head of Nile University's Student Union.

“This suggestion is completely rejected because our university is a reality on the ground," added Nassar. “If he was not part of the dispute, why has he appealed against the court ruling? His action has blocked the implementation of the ruling.”