Higher education reform aims to build equitable, innovative institutions, says Minister

The Moroccan government’s educational reform is nearing its final stages, particularly for higher education, said Moroccan Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, Abdellatif Miraoui.

During a speech at the opening of the regional debate on the national plan to accelerate the transformation of the higher education system in the Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region this Saturday, Miraoui stated that “the new model of the Moroccan university, which is being crystallized by the ministry.”

The project aims to “lay the foundations of effective spatial justice based on a clear vision that takes into account the economic, social and cultural developments taking place across each Moroccan region.”

The national plan to accelerate the transformation of the higher education system comes after previous plans that did not lead to the development of this sector as required, and derives its essence from the outputs of the new development model and the priorities of the government’s program.

The Minister, Custodian of the Higher Education Sector, stressed that “the plan aims to promote the pivotal role of the university as a lever to accelerate the pace of comprehensive development in Morocco, and to enhance its continental and international influence.”

He added that the current and future reforms were inevitable, due to the structural transformations of the national and international context, which “call for the need to prepare qualified human capital and develop capabilities in the field of scientific research and innovation.”

Miraoui stressed the pivotal role of the university “as a pillar of the comprehensive competitiveness of the national economy,” and “as a basic pillar for strengthening the social bond,” as well as being “a beacon for the consolidation of equity, equal opportunities and true citizenship, and supporting the values ​​of solidarity and social and spatial justice.”

The national plan to accelerate the transformation of the higher education system is based on four main axes, namely developing a training offer that keeps pace with the requirements of the times and markets, establishing scientific research with international standards, building on new types of partnerships between the university, the region and the socio-economic fabric, improving the governance of university institutions and raising their efficiency in order to establish their independence.

At the beginning of his intervention, Mohamed Ghachi, President of Mohammed V University in Rabat, stressed “the university’s pioneering role in training, research, innovation, qualifying the human element, providing competencies and human resources capable of keeping pace with the major projects in the Kingdom, and finding solutions to development problems.”

Ghachi added that the new projects initiated by the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, are a new form of contract between all partners, from the university, economic actors and society, to advance Moroccan higher education to a level that meets the needs of all partners and answers their expectations and questions.

The same university official considered that the regional debates launched by the Ministry of Higher Education will contribute to enriching the national debate related to the actual launch of the national plan to accelerate the transformation of the higher education system.

He stated that the new scheme “will contribute to the establishment of a new and renewed university model, based on university poles with international specifications that provide the appropriate framework for the training of tomorrow’s competencies and the development of their skills and creative abilities.”