Ahmed el-Sayed, a fresh graduate from the Faculty of Engineering at Menoufia University, has accused the supervisor of his graduation project of stealing it. “The project is an SMT machine, which is a cartesian robot, that collects and welds components for surface mounting boards,” he said in a Facebook post; The project cost EGP 32,000. El-Sayed received all the necessary promises and guarantees from the college administration and the supervisor of the project that he will get the machine after he graduated but they refused to hand him the device. The students filed a complaint with the college’s vice president and then the dean, but their efforts were unsuccessful. El-Sayed expressed his fear that his career would be over because he spoke out.

His Facebook post has been widely shared on social media pages, under the hashtag #stop_the_Tyranny_of_university_professors , that was number on trending in Egypt.

In its first official response, the university published a statement expressing its regret at the students’ defamation of the college, but stressed the students’ right to obtain their project which they purchased at their own expense.