Egypt's University Grading System: Imtiaz, Jayyid Jiddan and GPA Conversion

Why Egypt uses percentage bands

Egyptian universities publish transcripts with a descriptive Arabic grade term alongside the raw percentage, and in daily conversation students, employers and admissions officers refer to your Imtiaz, Jayyid Jiddan or Jayyid standing more often than the exact percentage behind it. Understanding the bands matters as much as the numbers themselves.

The Arabic grade bands

Egyptian universities record your marks as a percentage out of 100, then label the result with an Arabic descriptive term rather than a letter grade alone. At Cairo University, the bands run Imtiaz (Excellent, 85% and above), Jayyid Jiddan (Very Good, 75-84.99%), Jayyid (Good, 65-74.99%), Maqbul (Pass, 60-64.99%) and Rasib (Fail, below 60%), according to Cairo University's published grading scale .

Other Egyptian universities and faculties use similar labels with different cutoffs, so check your own faculty's regulation before you compare your transcript to a friend at another university. Engineering and medicine faculties sometimes set a higher pass mark than the university-wide scale, since professional regulators require it.

How the bands map to GPA

Egypt has no single national formula for converting your percentage to a 4.0 GPA, so each university, and sometimes each faculty, applies its own conversion table. A common approach maps Imtiaz to 4.0, Jayyid Jiddan to roughly 3.0-3.7, Jayyid to roughly 2.0-2.7 and Maqbul to roughly 1.0-1.7, though the exact decimal points vary by institution.

If you apply abroad for a masters or PhD, most receiving universities and credential evaluation services run your Egyptian percentage through their own conversion scale rather than accepting a self-calculated GPA. Submit your original percentage transcript alongside any GPA conversion you provide, so the admissions office can cross-check your figure.

Undergraduate versus postgraduate grading

Masters and PhD programs in Egypt often grade coursework on the same Imtiaz to Rasib scale, but your thesis or dissertation typically receives a separate grade from an examination committee, commonly Imtiaz, Jayyid Jiddan or a pass without distinction. A high coursework average does not guarantee a high thesis grade, since the committee assesses your research and defense on their own merits.

What the bands mean for postgraduate eligibility

Egyptian public universities generally expect at least a Jayyid Jiddan (Very Good) overall grade for direct entry into a masters program in competitive faculties, while some departments accept Jayyid (Good) graduates with additional coursework or a qualifying year. Highly competitive fields such as medicine and engineering often set Jayyid Jiddan or higher as the stated minimum for their postgraduate diploma and masters tracks.

Scholarship committees, both Egyptian government-funded and university-run, commonly use the same bands as a first filter, so an Imtiaz or Jayyid Jiddan overall grade widens your options for funded postgraduate study inside Egypt.

If you score Maqbul or fail a course

A Maqbul (Pass) grade counts toward your degree, but a low Maqbul average across your degree limits which masters programs will admit you directly. A Rasib (Fail) requires you to retake the course, usually in the next available semester or during a summer resit session, and the retake grade generally replaces the original failing grade on your transcript rather than averaging with it.

Graduation with honors

Egyptian universities award graduation honors tied to your final overall grade, generally reserving the top honors distinction for Imtiaz graduates and a lesser honors mention for Jayyid Jiddan graduates, though the exact honors labels and thresholds are set at the university level rather than nationally. Check your faculty's student affairs office for your specific honors policy before your final semester, since some faculties factor in your graduation project or thesis grade separately from your coursework average.