Egypt’s Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said on Sunday that first semester university exams will not be replaced by research papers as was the case last year during the first wave of the coronavirus.

However, first semester exams in schools and universities, scheduled for December 2020, were put off due to coronavirus concerns.

Meanwhile, the government decided to extend the mid-year holiday for an additional week. First semester exams will be held starting 27 February, the minister said. 

Abdel-Ghaffar told the media that students will take written exams in their faculties, except for the universities that earlier announced they have the required infrastructure to give exams online.

The majority of Egypt's private universities are qualified to conduct online exams due to their advanced facilities and the small number of students registered in their courses, Mohamed Helmy, head of the Supreme Council of Private Universities, told Al-Watan newspaper in December. 

Cairo University President Mohamed Othman El-Khest said the faculties were free to conduct the exams in the way they see fit, Al-Watan quoted Cairo University Spokesman Mahmoud Alam El-Din as saying earlier this month. 

Alam El-Din added that some faculties, including the Faculty of Mass Communication, have decided to conduct exams online. 

Abdel-Ghaffar said on Sunday university students are entitled to request postponing their courses and exams for a year. 

Minister of Education Tarek Shawki on Sunday also announced a bundle of measures to explain how the exams and the second semester will take place.

Among the most important decisions is giving students between grades four and eight a collective test that covers all the main subjects instead of first semester exams.

The decision excludes students of grades nine and 12, who will take the exams at the end of the academic year. In addition, according to the new educational system, pupils in grades less than four don't take exams.