Policy Perspectives

Equality for All? Egypt’s Free Public Higher Education Policy Breeds Inequality of Opportunity

No.

2

Date

December, 2010

Topic

H5. National Government Expenditures and Related Policies

I2. Education and Research Institutions

In this edition of Policy Perspective, Research Fellow Ragui Assaad writes that the common MENA countries policy of providing free public higher education is a misguided one. He explains that while such policies were adopted to ensure equality of opportunity, in Egypt they’ve led to the opposite; a system when scarce public resources actually subsidize the rich at the expense of the poor.
Equality for All? Egypt’s Free Public Higher Education Policy Breeds Inequality of Opportunity

Research Fellows

Ragui Assaad

Professor of Planning and Public Affairs, University...