Scholarship plan to help stem illegal graduate migration

As part of efforts to deal with illegal migration and brain drain among unemployed Moroccan university graduates, 100 Moroccan university graduates are to be offered places in Spanish universities to study for a one-year masters degree culminating in an entrepreneurial project that will be implemented in Morocco upon their return.

The legal migration project, known as “Young generation as change agents”, was launched in Rabat, Morocco on 19 September. It has three phases: a “pre-departure” phase during which organisers identify key socio-economic sectors and select candidates; a second phase of one-year study in Spain; and a “reintegration” phase focused on implementation of the best final project back in Morocco.

Coordinated by the Spanish Service for the Internationalisation of Education, the European Commission will pay for 95% of the €2.5 million (US$2.7 million) project.

“This project does not consist of a classic scholarship programme. It is a very special initiative … it reflects a very strong partnership between Spain and Morocco in education and migration,” European Union Ambassador to Morocco Claudia Wiedey was quoted as saying.

Jobless graduates

Several national and international reports have noted that Morocco suffers from a problem of jobless graduates that leads to youth migration and brain drain.

The percentage of unemployed university graduates in 2019 was 17.1%, according to a report entitled The Labour Market Situation in the First Quarter of 2019, published by Morocco's High Commission for Planning.

For the first half of this year, Moroccans were at the top of the list of illegal migrant nationalities arriving in Spain by sea or land. According to data from the operational portal of the UN Refugee Agency, Morocco accounted for 29.7% of illegal migrants to Spain followed by Mali (13.6%), Guinea (13.1%) and Côte d’Ivoire (10.7%).

Some of the factors causing brain drain in Morocco, as well as in the other Maghreb countries, were outlined in a 2019 High Commission for Planning report – Update Morocco: Latest Employment Numbers and Prospects by Jean R AbiNader.

They include the lack of job opportunities commensurate with education level and the need for more effective efforts to guide university students to skills areas that qualify them for attractive jobs in manufacturing and services.

AbiNader, a senior adviser at the Moroccan American Center, confirmed to University World News that most Moroccan university graduates go overseas to “find a good job based on their qualifications”.

He said the programme offered two constructive remedies. “It focuses the scholarships on practical, business options that lead to jobs in Morocco or start-up enterprises in Morocco; and it enables the recipients to learn how to build a business or enterprise that adds value to the economy.

"There is a multiplier effect here both in job creation and in creating role models for others to emulate," he said.

Scalable model

AbiNader said while he did not think the programme would have much impact on illegal migration of university graduates because “the need is much broader than 100 scholarships”, it was an "excellent model because it is scalable and can grow rapidly, and hopefully will encourage other countries to do the same".

Asked about other ways to fight illegal migration, AbiNader said: "The issue is valued jobs … Besides this effort, there could be apprenticeship programmes for Moroccan graduates in Europe they can qualify for if they agree to return home to a job that is worth their time abroad.”

However, he warned that going overseas did not guarantee a good job – just a change of venue.

"Graduates are tired of promises from the government, which can do a bit more in terms of better implementation of existing programmes, more transparency in allocating funds, and emphasising an ecosystem to support entrepreneurs,” AbiNader said.

"More should be or can be done in Moroccan universities to enable graduates to have the skills to be smart about their careers. Let’s be serious. Morocco faces an impossible task – it cannot create the number of jobs needed annually so making the graduates its partners in these efforts is the smart solution.

"In any case, the illegal migration will continue due to the overwhelming need for good jobs and the mismatch with the university studies of many of the students, which are not market focused.”