Classroom overcrowding ranks as the most pressing infrastructure problem among four challenges examined in a new study of Moroccan universities, ahead of outdated equipment, weak library resources and insufficient digital infrastructure.
Published in Frontiers in Education, the study surveyed 200 university students between March 27 and April 27, 2024 and combined their responses with assessments from 12 experts in higher education management, educational infrastructure and public policy.
Researchers used the TOPSIS decision-making method to compare the four problems across five effects: learning conditions, student motivation, employability, access to information and digital inclusion.
Overcrowding received the highest priority score at 0.7329, followed by outdated equipment at 0.6380, under-equipped libraries at 0.4228 and inadequate digital infrastructure at 0.2547. The scores are comparative indicators generated by the model, not percentages measuring how widespread each problem is nationally.
The authors argue that overcrowded classrooms can reduce concentration, participation and interaction between students and teachers, while aging laboratory and computer equipment can leave students training on tools that no longer match professional requirements.
The study therefore places expanding and better using classroom space alongside modernizing laboratories and computer facilities among the highest priorities for university infrastructure investment. Libraries and digital access remain part of the recommended investment agenda, despite ranking lower in the model.
The findings come with important limits. Students were recruited through social media and other online platforms using convenience sampling rather than a nationally representative design. Responses also came from a limited number of universities. The authors explicitly caution that the 200-person sample is insufficient to generalize the ranking across Morocco’s entire higher education system.
They recommend larger studies covering more public and private universities, regional differences and the cost and expected return of different infrastructure investments.
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