MOROCCO: Problems remain despite reforms

In a move to speed up educational reforms, Morocco had launched new initiatives aimed at building infrastructure and to raise standards in higher education to address the needs of the labour market with regard to social and economic affairs. But in recent months, Morocco's unemployed graduates have embarked on a series of protests and some have even threatened suicide.

Some experts said young people were victims of a failing education system that had not allowed them to find employment in the private sector.

"Although Morocco is paving its way through the difficult higher education tunnel, there are still a number of problems waiting to be solved" said Ismaïl El Hadrami, a professor of biotechnology at the Marrakech-based faculty of sciences Semlalia at the University of Cadi Ayyad.

Morocco has set up a Higher Council for Education, chaired by the King of Morocco Mohammed VI, to provide a platform for wide-ranging consultation and exchange of views and serve as an effective observatory to monitor the educational system in the country, as well as assessing the national educational and training system and the reform programmes submitted by the government.

In a bid to limit the number of skilled workers moving abroad, the government is focusing on supporting and encouraging projects in the fields of research and technology.

Despite numerous technical and publishing challenges, distance learning or e-learning is gaining momentum in Morocco in the public and private sectors.

Morocco is creating a Virtual Moroccan Campus aimed at pooling the resources of e-learning programmes throughout the university system. The ultimate goal is developing full remotely provided courses of study at the vocational, undergraduate, and graduate degree levels.

Morocco has embarked on a 856 million dirhams (US$105 million) national programme to train 10,000 engineers a year by 2010 to meet market demands, especially in technology and industry. There are just 30,000 engineers, or nine per 10,000 inhabitants - a low figure compared with 40 in Jordan, 130 in France and 540 in Japan.

The 10,000 engineers programme covers engineering diplomas as well as masters and bachelor degrees in science and technology.

Currently, public and private funds assigned to the scientific and technical research sector represent 0.8% of GDP but there are plans to increase this figure to 1% by 2010.

Morocco has set also established the first fund in the country to support innovation in information technology, with an initial budget of 100 million dirhams. The fund is part of a plan to create more than 30,000 new job opportunities in ICT industries. The purpose is to provide up to 50% of the financing for innovative projects advanced by IT companies

To promote science and technology investment, Morocco is also planning to establish a new campus to provide knowledge-based services to strengthen research and training in clean technology. The 'knowledge campus', part of a US$3.2 billion five-year renewable energy investment plan, will help in developing the scientific workforce through training programmes, conferences and seminars, new masters courses in renewable energies and through research projects

In a bid to increase the number of junior high-school students to study core science and technology at baccalaureate level, as well as promoting a culture of high-level science education, the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, Training and Scientific Research is organising science weeks. This is to achieve the target set by the National Charter of Education and Training which is having 67% of students in science and technology, with the remaining 33% of students pursuing arts subjects.

EL Hadrami revealed that a 'Programme of Urgency' dealing with enhancement of all aspects that affect higher education has recently launched. Projects accompanied with financial programmes will be prepared by the staff of each university, taking into consideration the opportunity of the programmes and what it is needed to be done in terms of research, education, relation with the secondary education, and new profiles of formation at the university.

Fares Khalid at the department of biology at Cadi Ayyad University said one of the weaknesses of Morocco's higher education was copying European systems and using education programmes which were not linked to the labour market.

The 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) published last December showed Morocco, like most Arab countries, lagged behind the international averages in the teaching of maths and science to young students.

"There are three important elements which handicap Moroccan higher education science and technology, namely, lack of short, medium and long-term strategies, lack of qualified administrative, academic and technical personnel, and lack of sustainable resources," said Abdeljelil Bakri, head of the insect biological control unit at University Cadi Ayyad.

Bakri suggested Morocco should set the goals and the human and financial resources needed to promote human capacity building and continuous training to meet new challenges and needs. He said the curriculum should connect students with active life, encourage creativity and entrepreneurship, along with continuous monitoring and evaluation with qualified personnel.

"We should recognise that in Morocco most students coming from modest families could attend the public university and even get scholarships to study abroad. Although this is a small amount, it can help many families."