Mixed responses to university registration fee proposal

In a move perceived by some as the beginning of the end of free higher education, the Moroccan government is planning to introduce registration fees in public institutions for wealthy Moroccans and financial aid for those that cannot afford to pay. The responses have been mixed.

A draft framework law aimed at regulating the public education sector in this regard was adopted by the Moroccan governing council on 4 January and is in line with the recommendations of the 2015-30 vision of the Higher Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research (HCETSR).

While Article 42 of the law refers to the diversification of funding sources, with the participation of all stakeholders, including "wealthy families", Article 45 mentions the gradual introduction of registration fees (but not tuition fees) in institutions of higher education and subsequently in high schools.

The registration fee will depend on a family’s income and the interior ministry is conducting a statistical study to determine and classify the income of households.

The framework law will have to go to the Council of Ministers led by King Mohammed VI and then to parliament for approval in order to be effective. Once adopted by parliament next spring, a national commission, led by the head of the Moroccan government, will monitor implementation of the reforms that might come into effect in the fall of 2018-2019.

Currently, the state meets the expenditure of higher education institutions and finances their operating budgets. It has an annual budget for 2018 for education of MAD59.29 billion (US$6.4 billion). The amount given to each institution is based on the number of students in each institution. In addition to paying no tuition fees, Moroccan students also receive around US$4,000 per year from the state to help with costs.

Low retention of graduates

However, despite investment by the state, a report based on figures obtained by the French Development Agency indicates that 17% of university graduates leave the country.

Anouar Majid, Moroccan higher education expert and vice-president for global affairs at the University of New England in the United States, told University World News this was because the system produces graduates unsuited to the job market.

"Moroccan university graduates, especially those in traditional academic disciplines, are often unqualified for many occupations, especially those in the private sector. They don’t have the right skills but they pressure the government to provide them with government jobs," he said.

Morocco currently ranks 96 out of 118 countries in the Global Talent Competitive Index 2017, which reflects the relatively weak contribution of its higher education system to skills development and talent attraction and retention.

"The university system needs to be modernised," according to Majid. This includes rethinking curricula and introducing new skills, such as using technology, understanding finance, and learning customer service practices,” he said.

In a recent article in The Arab Weekly, HCETSR member Noureddine Ayouch was quoted as saying that the article that relates to the imposition of registration fees in the framework law also mandates that the state will pay financial aid to those with limited financial means.

“The fees charged will benefit the students through the grants that will be provided to them. The teachers will also benefit by improving their wages, allowing them to live in dignity and to carry out their professional duties and therefore improve public education in the country,” Ayouch said.

Free education as a right

But not everyone agrees. In a statement on 12 January, the National University of Education Staff (NUES), which forms part of a labour union, said: "Free education is a red line and it is an integral part of the mechanisms of financial governance and control and the rationalisation of expenditures and budgets allocated for education."

The NUES statement called for the government to remove articles 42 and 45 of the draft framework law, which it considers as "an introduction to cancel free education" and called for the government to "explicitly state the right to high quality education for all Moroccans as a free public service".

"NUES refuses to accept [the] pricing [of] the education of Moroccans and adheres to the right of Moroccans to free and quality education that preserves the national identity and the constitutional constants of the nation,” the statement said.

Moroccan prime minister Saad Eddine El Othmani has described accusations that the state is backing away from free education as “completely untrue”. He said there was no intention to abandon free education in public institutions, according to Morocco World News. El Othmani said the registration fee would exclusively concern “wealthy families, while exempting the poor, fragile and middle-class ones”.

Increased revenues

Asked about the advantages of university registration fees for wealthy students, Elizabeth Buckner, assistant professor at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto in Canada, and former Fulbright scholar to Morocco, told University World News the introduction of fees (both for registration and tuition) for wealthy students could bring more revenue into the higher education system as a whole, which has advantages ranging from improving resources (research facilities, libraries, computer labs), to paying professors more.

"In many cases, people assume that ‘free is fair’ or ‘free is just’ but this is not always the case; introducing targeted fees, based on families’ ability to pay, can actually be a socially progressive policy that redistributes wealth away from the wealthy and upper classes towards lower-income students," she said.

"This can have a positive effect on society and promote social mobility if it is coupled with widening access, particularly for lower-class families."

However, Buckner said it was important for the higher education system “as a whole” that wealthy students did not “flee” the public system for private institutions or abroad, which they were likely to do if they believed the education quality they were receiving was not worth the fees.

Buckner said it might be preferable to have fees kick in for upper-income families at a certain income level, rather than setting fees at a high level and having financial aid available to lower-income students.

"This is because saying that everyone has to pay a fee, unless under a certain income threshold, can deter low-income students from attending if they do not understand how the financial aid works, or if the process of applying for financial aid is burdensome," she said.

She said the effects of university registration fees will depend on who is getting charged and how much.

“Small fees, targeted to primarily upper-class and wealthy students who tend to have access to more competitive and elite programmes will likely not have too negative an impact on the system as a whole,” she said.

Social disadvantage

She said the biggest disadvantages to relatively modest registration fees are likely social.

“Given the long-standing commitment to free higher education, the benefits of this policy shift must be communicated to young people and their families to avoid social and political backlash."

She said it was also important to define clearly who counts as “wealthy” and have systems in place to support and implement the new fee structure.