A majority of Moroccan students leave universities without graduating, says Minister of Higher Education

Almost half of the students in Morocco leave universities before graduating, making the dropout rate in higher education 49.4%, said Abdellatif Miraoui, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation.

During a meeting Tuesday with the Council of Advisors’ Education, Culture and Communication Committee, the Minister said 35% of scientific and technical baccalaureate graduates prefer economics and social science programs so that they can avoid the language barrier since they find it difficult to continue their studies in French.

In Morocco, scientific and technical courses at public schools are typically taught in Arabic, while university courses are primarily taught in French.

According to the minister, graduates of open access university programs lack life skills and foreign language knowledge

As a result of Morocco’s decision to adopt the four-year-long Bachelor system while keeping the French three-year license system, Moroccan universities find it difficult to manage the two distinct systems.

As part of its effort to resolve these issues, the ministry has adopted the four-year Bachelor system. However, conducting the new system while keeping the French three-year licensing system in place has caused confusion within universities, according to the minister.

The minister was able to point out a few silver linings, despite the industry’s continuing difficulty. This is because the private and public universities were able to offer a total of 3,858 courses in the last academic year.

The number of candidates applying to institutions with limited access increased by 5% compared to last year.

The government has outlined a number of initiatives aimed at improving access to higher education, including the opening of 8 new universities across the country, including those in the southern provinces, to facilitate and improve study opportunities in the country, according to the same official.

The Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation announced that the grant budget for the current academic year has been increased by around MAD 200 million, which brings the total to over MAD 2 billion.