The difference between developed and less developed countries chiefly resides in the effectiveness of their administrative systems. This study attempts to identify and analyze the organizational constraints acting upon and within the Egyptian Ministry of Education that deter its capacity for administrative reform. Critical management processes are examined, such as policy formation, promotion procedures, planning, resource distribution, and local level decision-making. Field visits to several

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... gional school systems and interviews with most of the senior ministry officials were carried out by a team of Egyptian and American researchers. The research is significant for providing close examination of a system closed to most Western researchers. Although the Egyptian educational system is highly bureaucratic, it operates with an acceptable level of efficiency. The great challenge for change should come principally through a strategic planning process examining the present and future needs of the nation and establishing new, realistic directions. There is ideally such a strategic and policy formation body in Egypt. However, a ministry of education sheltered from external pressures for change, with its ranks filled by a seniority system and senior leaders close to retirement, operating thorough routinized procedures, and drastically underfinanced, has little incentive or means to effect significant reform. Included are 66 endnotes.