Egypt’s Supreme Council of Universities will agree Saturday on a timeframe for the second semester amid the pandemic, the higher education minister, Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, said.

His remarks came as he laid the cornerstone for a non-profit private university in Helwan, set to be constructed in the headquarters of the 46-year-old public Helwan University.

The new university is being built on 54 feddans (56 acres) at a cost of EGP 2 billion, Maged Negm, president of the Helwan University said, adding that education in the new university is set to start in 2021/2022.

Abdel-Ghaffar said exams of the first semester will be held as scheduled, starting 27 February, right after the mid-year holiday ends.

First semester exams in schools and universities, scheduled for December 2020, were put off due to coronavirus concerns. The government this month decided to extend the mid-year holiday for an additional week to end on 26 February.

Abdel-Ghaffar earlier said the first semester exams in universities will not be replaced by research papers as was the case last year during the first wave of the pandemic.

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.