Gov’t to form committee to address conditions coming with Egyptian scholarship

JUBA, OCTOBER 6, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan government announced on Friday that it will form a committee to look into conditions that it said comes with educational scholarship offered to its citizens by the Egyptian government.

The Egyptian government recently introduced fees that should be paid by foreign students studying under government scholarships in its higher education. It has also set age limit for who should be admitted to undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

Speaking to journalists following a cabinet meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir today, information minister and government spokesman Michael Makuei said Egypt is offering free scholarships to South Sudanese students, but there are some limitations that the government believes need to be addressed.

“After the presentation, the cabinet decided that the ministry and service cluster should set up a committee to go to Egypt to discuss all this with the Egyptian government and see how best this situation can be addressed,” he said.

Makuei said that the Egyptian government has attached new fees such as $100 dollars for registration, among other fees that must be paid by students on government scholarship, adding that age limitations has also been made a condition by the Egyptian government.

“Of course, the government of Egypt has given us 400 scholarships, which were free scholarships, fully funded, but now there are a lot of changes in the system, and they are demanding that students should pay $100 for registration and that there are other fees that must be paid by students,” he said.

“In addition to that, we have come to make further clarification on the age limit, which is that any student going for undergraduates should not be above 19 years old, anybody going for master’s degree should not be more than 26 years old, and anybody going for PhD studies should not be more than 32 years of age, so those are all the limitations being made,” he added.

The government spokesman further said the committee is expected to travel to Egypt soon to discuss the challenges with the Egyptian government.