The public school system was expanded further in the twentieth century.
Today primary school education comprises five years, followed by three years
of preparatory school and another three years of secondary school. A pupil
can enter the secondary general school only if he has received good marks in
the centralized exams which take place in the country annually. Those who
are not admitted may enter the professional schools, which are specialized
in various branches – technical, agricultural, commercial or those qualify-
ing students for work in the tourism business. Graduates of the professional
schools may enter the higher technical institutes, while admission to one of
the country’s many public universities is granted only to students who have
received excellent marks in the annual countrywide as-sanawiya el-‘ama final
exams. There is a quota system according to which the students are admitted
to the various areas of study. The highest marks are required for admission
to the faculties of engineering, architecture and pharmacy, as well as human
and veterinary medicine. There are no fewer than thirteen public universities
and about as many higher technical institutes in Egypt. Cairo alone has four
public universities, with branches in other parts of the country: Al-Azhar,
which originally consisted solely of a faculty of Islamic theology but was
turned into a modern university offering all other areas of study in the 1960s;
Cairo University, which was founded in 1908 as a private university; Ain Shams
University, founded in 1950; and the University of Helwan, founded in 1975.
The University of Alexandria was founded in 1942. New universities were
founded after 1957 in Asyut, Qena, El-Minya, Es-Zagazig, El-Mansura, Tanta,
Shebin el-Kom and Ismailiya.