Transcript COUNTRY PROFILE: MOROCCO

Moroccan Higher
Education System
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
1
MOROCCO PROFILE
 Morocco is a constitutional monarchy led by King
Mohammad VI, who succeeded his father, King
Hassan II, in 1999.
 The Arab spring led to a new constitution in 2011,
with more power to parliament
 Morocco’s first constitution was adopted in March
1962. It has been revised in 1970, 1972, 1992,, in
September 1996 and, most recently in 2011.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
2
 Capital: Rabat.
 Independence: Morocco achieved independence
from France on March 2, 1956.
 Reign of Muhammad VI: In July 1999, King Hassan
died and was succeeded by his son Crown Prince Sidi
Mohammed, who assumed the title of Mohammed VI
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
3
 Morocco is located in the northwestern corner of
Africa
 across the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of
Gibraltar from Spain.
 Morocco’s coastline along the Northern Atlantic
Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea measures 1,835
kilometers.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
4
 Population: As of mid-2011, Morocco had an
estimated total population of 32 million.
 The population is concentrated in the northwestern
part of the country, west of the Atlas Mountains.
 Some 58 percent of the population lives in cities.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
5
Languages
 Arabic is the official language.
 Berber dialects also are spoken and increasingly used as a
language of instruction in schools.
 French is often the language of business, government, and
diplomacy and is taught in the schools.
 Spanish is spoken in the northern part of the country.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
6
Religion
 Islam is the official religion of Morocco. Muslims
constitute 99 percent of the population; about 90
percent of Muslims adhere to Sunni Islam.
 The population also includes very small numbers of
Christians and Jews, who are able to worship without
restriction.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
7
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
 In 2011 Morocco’s GDP was US$ 100 billion and per
capita income was US$5000.
 Real GDP growth of 3.7 percent.
Economic output is divided among sectors as follows:
 agriculture,
16.7 percent;
 industry, 29.7 percent; and
 services, 53.6 percent.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
8
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
 Morocco’s agricultural sector, including forestry and
fishing, constituted 16.7 percent of gross domestic
product (GDP) but employed 40 percent of the
workforce in 2004.
 The agricultural sector is regarded as volatile,
because of its vulnerability to inconsistent rainfall
among other factors, and has been contracting in
recent years.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
9
 Mining and Minerals: Morocco has two-thirds of the
world’s phosphate reserves and is the world’s top exporter
of phosphate rock.
 The worst performing manufacturing segment was
textiles, which has experienced no growth since 1994,
reflecting competition from Asian countries and a
relatively strong domestic currency
 Services: Services accounted for 53.6 percent of the
economy and employed 45 percent of the workforce.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
10
 Tourism is Morocco’s leading source of foreign exchange.
Morocco received 8 million foreign tourists, with the
largest contingents coming from France, Spain, the United
Kingdom, Germany, and Italy, in that order.
 Labor: The labor force was estimated to exceed 12 million.
The distribution of the workforce in 2004 was as follows:
45 percent in services, 40 percent in agriculture, and 15
percent in industry. In 2004 Morocco’s unemployment rate
was 10.8 percent,
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
11
Foreign Economic Relations:
 Morocco’s economy is gradually becoming more
integrated into the international economic system.
 On January 1, 2006, a comprehensive bilateral freetrade agreement between Morocco and the United
States went into effect.
 In December 1999, Morocco entered into a free-trade
agreement for industrial goods with the European
Union (EU) and is participating in a free-trade zone
with the EU by 2012
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
12
Education
 The education system includes nine years of free and
compulsory education, but attendance rates are low,
especially among girls.
 Higher education is offered in 15 public universities,
which had 350,000 enrolled students in 2011, and 5
private universities, among them an American-style,
English-language institution with about 1,000
students.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
13
The public system of higher
education comprises two strands.
 1/ One is the autonomous system for the training of
future executives (grandes écoles) which fall under the
responsibility of the relevant specialised ministries
 2/ and the other is the university system, for which the
Ministry of National Education, Higher Education,
Executive Training and Scientific Research is responsible.
 The private higher education sector has been growing
rapidly in recent years.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
14
Private institutions of higher
education currently cater for 9 %
of training needs, but they will
eventually be required to cover
20 %.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
15
Types of tertiary education
 Morocco carried out its university reforms in
September 2003.
 The system of Doctorate, Master and doctoral
degrees now prevails throughout the
university structure except at the Englishspeaking University of Al Akhawayn in Ifrane,
which maintains a system of four- year
Bachelor courses and Master degrees.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
16
the system of higher education is
divided into three cycles:
 Bachelor cycle: Courses leading to the
Bachelor degree last for six semesters
after the final school exam, the
baccalauréat,
 Master cycle: This cycle lasts for four
semesters after the award of the
Doctorate degree in basic or applied
disciplines.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
17
 Doctoral cycle: This cycle lasts for three
years following the award of the Master
degree, the specialized Master degree
 The three-year period may be extended
in exceptional cases by one year or by a
maximum of two years.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
18
Some data
 Statistics for the academic year 2009/2010 show a
total of 342 institutions of higher education, of which
150 were public and 192 private.
 These institutions had a total of 343 123 students,
distributed as follows: 308 005 in the public
institutions, and 35 118, i.e. 10.23 % of the total,
receiving private higher education.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
19
Responsablities
The Ministry of Higher
Education formulates and
implements government
policy on university education
and scientific research.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
20
Financing
 The access to public higher education in Morocco is
entirely free of charge.
 The state budget provides the institutions’
investment budgets as well as their operating
budgets.
 Financing is based on the number of students in each
institution.
 Institutions with restricted access, however, receive
more per capita funding than those with unrestricted
access.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
21
Assessment, progression,
certification and degree
 The system for the assessment and certification of
Moroccan students is a modular system.
 The modular system is very close to the model used in
the Bologna framework.
 Nevertheless, the step from the modular system to
the European credit transfer and accumulation
system (ECTS) depends on certain conditions that
have not yet been fulfilled.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
22
Research activities
 In institutional terms, the system of scientific research
in Morocco comprises six research institutes. 982
accredited research units and 49 centers of
postgraduate studies.
 Morocco devotes 0.7% of its budget to scientific
research, the bulk of which is used for the benefit of
‘hard’ science.
 Only 7 % of the budget is spent on research in the
humanities and social science.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
23
International cooperation
 In the realm of international cooperation, it is
pertinent to recall the role of France and its
importance in terms of program implementation.
 More than half of Morocco’s bilateral cooperation
programs have been concluded with France.
 Its second partner is Spain, followed by a group of
countries with which a lesser degree of cooperation,
comprising Germany, Italy, Belgium and Portugal.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
24
Erasmus National Office (NEO)
 Small structure : 5 people
 Role :
 To facilitate the link between Moroccan Universities and
Partner countries’ Universities as well as with EU
Universities
 To Inform assist potential applicants
 To organize some trainings for colleagues who intend to
submit projects
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
25
 The NEO could, when necessary, propose
Universities to be involved in projects from both
sides of the Mediterranean shore.

 Participate to the assessment of projects
submitted in cooperation with EU Delegation in
Morocco and with Moroccan Higher Education
Ministry.
 Last but not least, NEO uses to monitor funded
projects during their life.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
26
Erasmus + Information Day
 Every year, NEO organizes an info-day with regard to
the year call.
 This EID witnesses the attendance of Presidents of
Universities as well as Deans, professors, some
administrative ministry and universities staff.

 The day is open by the Minister or the GS of the
Ministry, EACEA representatives, EU Delegation.
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
27
 The Next Moroccan Erasmus +Information
Day will be on :
Thursday 13 Novembre 2014
You are welcome for this very important
event
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
28
Thank you for your attention
 Fouad M. Ammor






Coordonnateur national du Programme Erasmus +
[email protected]
Tel : +212 661 444 654
Adresse: Résidence Waha, immeuble A12, apt 16,
Nahda 1, Rabat (Maroc)
[email protected]
 www.erasmusplus-morocco.ma
Erasmus + Info Day Palestine 5 nov 2014
29