I’ve started working in the Arab Academy for Science and Technology for almost two months now..
I work there part-time, meaning I take a schedule of one class giving them one section and one lab. each one for two hours and that’s it 
Lately I was given another class with four more hours and that’s very nice too.
Let me tell you about my first time going there, of course I couldn’t believe myself of how clean and organized the place was… and one of the best things there really is the staff, including professors, engineers, secretary or even the office boy… they are extremely polite and helpful.
Any way, I entered the class for the first time, I found about 20 students only, I was shocked, (I didn’t have any sheets of names or anything to tell) so, I asked them, how many are you in the class? One said, don’t know exactly, but in the Lecture we were toooooooooo many, I wondered how many,,, and he said “yegi 50 keda” and he was very upset of the huge number !!
You can imagine that the first image poped-up to my mind was our first year in preparatory Engineering Faculty-Mansoura University, we were about 1800 student, and he’s complaining for 50 ones !!!
That was the start to discover the huge difference between two locations, allow me to summarize them as much as I can1- The system in the AAST is called “credit hour system”; which is for each subject it’s determined a specific number of hours for it to be teached, lectures, sections and also labs.
the student has to choose as many subject as he can take, and there’s a law controlling which subject to be taken first and so on….
the cool thing is that the student is able to improve their grades in any subject at any time, even in the summer vacation, still he can study new subjects to go through or improve his grades.
2- There’s an evaluation for each proffessor and engineer teaching any class, and these are very important and very efficient to decide whether they can give this person more and more hours to teach, or thank him for his work and find some one better.
The student has to choose with which professor he can sign-in, or at least if he can change his class to attend with another one who’s better. Even so, the students can just go to the department complaining that they can’t understand and not ready for exams and need a change.. BEFLOS-HOM BA2A 
3- The study system there is by weeks, so lectures start on the first week, sections may start on the second or third, they have 3 -what we call midterm- exams on the 7th , 8th and 12th week, and they care for each single mark they may lose, and the attendance is very important for the students, cause 3 absence times, can prevent the student to take the exam, and so to be registered in the subject again, and pay more money!
4- As I mentioned earlier, the number of students is very few.. 25 in the section and almost 50 in the lecture, which make things move much more smoothly in everything, the funny thing that you won’t be able to gather those 25 in one extra time, except Friday because of the credit-hour system that makes them registering in very different courses at the same semester.
5- The classes themselves, the rooms, even the bathrooms… very clean and pretty also the labs, REAL LABS , very new stuff, all equipments are working perfect and if anything is not, just complain !!
every single theory in every course is to be tested in the lab and prove it’s true…
They take the pure and very good science and in a very good manner too, the problem really that’s all is for too much money… and I swear, if we get 25 of normal students from governmental universities will superior those whom there.
The students there are very spoiled, very careless and naughty,- most of them to be fair -.. some times I wish I can tell them that they are in a blessing they don’t know how much it worth…
I wish we can change our system to be something like that, something makes the student very happy and comfortable with their university and enjoy what they study.
I don’t think that all of this needs so much money, but we need to change the idea that every one must join a high level faculty medicine, engineering…etc.
Everyone must join what lines with their talents and capabilities to get the best of them, …
Indeed I still have much more to tell and compare, but that’s enough till now…
I know very well that what I’ve seen is not only in the AAST and there are better places also -private ones for sure- but that was my experience there.. and I wonder what if we can devote these amount of money and potential on the real ones who deserve them?!
kamasheto Said:
November 18th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Sounds like a nice place to be working in.
As most people know I’ve transferred (actually, restarted) my studies to the GUC and I’d like to add a few comments to your comparisions, or perhaps put some light on some of the things I see at the GUC.. just to give everyone a wider view of how things happen in the, shamefully, non-governmental universities.
In the GUC we are not 50/lecture. On average we’re around 150-200. On some lectures some people decide not to attend (as usual) and only 50 will be present, but that’s not the majority — on most cases we get everyone showing up. Still, as you said compared to 1800 this is an enormous difference.
In the GUC students cannot change a lecturer. I do understand the students are supposed to be spoilt to a certain extent based on how much they pay per semester but that does cost the university credebility to be honest. Not everyone would want their children enrolled in a university where they, 17 year olds, can decide who to teach them and who to not teach them. They know too little to decide that at that age — most of them, of course. They cannot change exam dates, as well, and the rules are very strict — and harsh, at times.
Those semi-midterms you mentioned we have are called quizzes, they are taken very seriously because they count for about 20% of the final grade. We have midterms, too, that count for just as much. Midterms are taken just as serious as the finals.
We too have the absence rule, but it’s applied depending on the credit hours (hence the number of slots per week). You can be absent about 5 times on an 8-credit hour course and get away with it, and have to retake another course worth 3-credit hours if you don’t show up on 4 times. The exact figure is 25% of the total subject slots. Heh, even late comers are not given attendance if they show up 10 minutes late — it’s a rule enforced by (mostly) everyone! As I said, the rules are hash, but very strict and everyone abides by them.
Good luck. =)
Sinar Shebl Said:
November 18th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
@kamasheto: It’s very nice actually
I knew from Ahmed that u r in GUC and i blv that it’s pretty similar to wt i’ve seen in AAST… as i hear a little about the system there..
as i knew that for a course there may be also bout 200 students divided on two lecturers (100 students) each group divided in two classes (each 50 students) then each class in two sections (almost 25 each)
and i blv they have the exact same restrictions for the attendance and the exams (quizzes) ..
but they don’t get to change the lecturer that easily though, it needs a very huge majority to write an official document and stuff like that, what i’ve witnessed really that they could delay the 7th exam for one week, because they didn’t get any exercises and this problem was concerning the research assistants who got replaced …
finally, the systems in the non-governmental universities are almost alike… that what make them really successful and attract anyone to join as long as he can afford… but, still the governmental ones have a better reputation for a graduate despite the lack of many requirements there…which indeed doesn’t make any sense !!
thanx for coming by
Ahmed Soliman Said:
November 18th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Wow, I really want to restart my studies there
But hopefully they should be having good professors in computer science who can really compete my passion for cpcomputer science.
DanDona Said:
November 19th, 2008 at 5:28 am
My Cousin in A Rich Spoiled AAST Student
We Bey5od Summer Courses 3ashn Yesee3 Henak Fel Agaza 
My Other Cousin In A TA @ The GUC and She Loves The Place She Was a TA
@ AAST b 4 Bas Howa Da el Tabe3i Eno el Student Eli Ahlo Yedfa3o el Mabla’3 Da 3ashn ta3lemo Yeb2a Howa Spolied Maho Mesh Ta3ban Fehom
Rabbena M3aki Ya SInar Begad ..
Instruction Is Becoming My Worst Night Mare..
kamasheto Said:
November 19th, 2008 at 6:36 am
I’d like to add one more comment regarding this issue: I don’t know about AAST but not everyone enrolled in the GUC is spoiled (heh, and I don’t just mean me =P). There are scholarships that, if someone is good enough, may reach as much as 100% — which means the student pays literally nothing!! Even the ones with 60% scholarships pay around 5,000LE/semester, which technically isn’t much different from what I used to pay back when I was in Mansoura University, taking into consideration all the private tuitions I was taking — which brings us to the point that in private universities private tuition is not as widely spread as it is in governmental universities.
@Dandona: Even the ones that pay the whole load without any deduction are not all spoiled — some are raised well. Plus the obvious, anyone that can afford this level of education doesn’t necessarily mean eno mat3ebsh fel flos di.
Sinar Shebl Said:
November 19th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Neither in the AAST, there are many students who are very well mannered and very keen on their studies, exactly as there’s in any other place, whether governmental or not… but i noticed this more in AAST because they are too few ones, cause in Mansoura when i’m teaching for 100 student it won’t be so obvious as for a 25 students
The scholarships system is really great, and efficient for the superior students, It’s applied in the AAST too, but I’ve no idea exactly how much discount is made…
The real good thing also as kamasheto said , is that the private courses are not spread that wide, and it’s one of the good advantages there…
Any way, I really loved it there, and I wish to continue working for the next semesters isA
DanDona Said:
November 20th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I didn’t say All Rich Kids Are Spoiled
Eli A2sodo Eni I knew SomeOne My Friends Eli Beys7o Yel2i 1000 Geneh 3ala Maktabooo
Men Mamy ‘3er Papy Ba2a..
but Technically Most Of Them Are..
Especially fe El AMar7ala de College We Keda , Did You Look @ The Parking
Kol Yom EL SOb7 Da Masroofo
We Mesh Kol ely Fel Colleges De Smart Because Most Of Them
Didn’t Make it To Normal COlleges , Although If My Kids Can GO to A Normal COllege
And I can Affort The AAST or The GUC Sure i’ll Make Them Join It..
Bas As You Said , scholarships Are A Gr8 Idea
To Give The Student Who Worth it And Can’t Afford it
To Have Such Kind Of Education..