The Head of Government (Prime Minister) should be able to follow through on his ideas. Not so long ago, in the same chamber, when he was discussing higher education as part of his general policy questions, he validated the strategy of his then minister Abdellatif Miraoui, particularly with regard to the abolition of multi-disciplinary faculties in medium-sized towns.
This was against the wishes of members of Parliament, notably from the RNI (National Union of Independents), who were fighting to host these facilities in their towns. In the same vein, the former minister also cancelled the Bachelor’s degree, even though some students had already started the course.
Today, Aziz Akhannouch expects his successor Azzedine El Midaoui to propose something along the lines of multi-disciplinary schools. This type of teaching was initiated by the former Minister, now Wali (Head Governor) of the Agadir region, Saad Amzazi. Incidentally, when addressing this question, the Head of Government became so confused that he called his current Minister Azzedine El Midaoui by the name of his predecessor Abdellatif Miraoui. A revealing slip of the tongue? It should be pointed out that this occurred during the second part of the Question Time session, when the Head of Government was trying to reply to the interventions of the MPs, particularly those from the opposition who had provoked him.
In any case, in the past, as part of the university’s commitment to supporting development projects, the training offer focused on institutions with regulated access to prepare human capital. In this respect, the executive’s vision is to achieve 5 major goals. Firstly, a total of 100,000 graduates will have to be achieved by 2027. This total will include engineers, technicians, and middle managers, to support the development of industry and ongoing investments. Next, it is imperative to increase the number of healthcare professionals by 2030. Then there’s the question of training 10,000 social workers by the same deadline, i.e. 2030. There is also the obligation to prepare teachers for the primary and secondary cycles, and to increase the number of enrolments to 50,000 by the end of 2025. Finally, the number of graduates from Moroccan universities in digital specialties is to be increased, with a target of 22,500 graduates by 2027.
The Government is also working on the effective implementation of the reform of the PhD cycle. This will involve the adoption of more than 245 doctoral programs for over 11,700 students by the 2024-2025 academic year, in fields linked to national development priorities.
In addition, the Government is continuing to implement a national program to train 1,000 new-generation doctoral students in research projects of excellence. These PhD students will be entrusted with pedagogical supervision of tutorials and practical work, for a net monthly stipend of around 7,000 dirhams (USD 700).
M.C.
