In this respect, a university is treated like any institution involved in any activity. We only have to look at the case of the armed forces. The military has been a paragon of efficiency and speed in its civil works projects. Yet the soldiers working on these projects are Egyptians of the same stock as the lazy, lethargic employees one meets everywhere else. The difference in attitudes is due to military discipline and administration.
Democracy is no longer a luxury, to be forsaken or postponed.
We need only to look at reports on the state of development in the world to realise the correlation between democracy and development. Countries where democracy is banished cannot flourish. We must make our choice and act accordingly. The writer is professor of education at Ain Shams University.