Sub-Saharan students in Moroccan Private Higher Education (PHE): which migratory patterns?

Par Filippo Marinoni – tiré du mémoire Inequalities and Moroccan private higher education – Social reproduction, internationalisation and migratory patterns, écrit dans le cadre du Master II « MIM »

Context of the fieldwork and research questions:

In a historical period where South-North migrations are constantly monitored and politicised, poor attention is accorded by the public opinion and political debates to South-South migrations, which are, on the contrary, very consistent in numerical terms, as well as very useful in order to read the social, political and economic situation of the low-wage countries.

When I wrote my thesis in Morocco in spring 2021, I focused on a particular type of South-South migration, which is the student migration of young sub-Saharans towards Moroccan private higher education (PHE), thus including private universities and private professional schools.

In studying this phenomenon, I wondered about the migratory patterns to which sub-Saharans students aspired – starting from the idea that Morocco could be for them a stepping stone towards richer countries (USA, Canada and the European Union). And, by noticing the amount of sub-Saharans students enrolled in Moroccan higher education institutions, I asked myself about the interest that the Kingdom might have in attracting students from the rest of Africa.

What interests at stake for Morocco in attracting foreign students?

Starting from the second research question, I found out that Morocco can gain from the attraction of sub-Saharans students both economically and politically speaking.

Economically, Moroccan private universities can benefit from the tuition fees paid by sub-Saharans. These students rarely benefit from scholarships, so their contribution is very remunerative for the institution. Moreover, and this concerns both private and public HE institutions, all the students spend their money for their everyday life in the country, and, of course, must pay for an accommodation and for all the services they might be pushed to exploit (trips, restaurants, cinemas and theatres…). As Altbach and Knight (2007) remark about the fact that universities tend to promote student (im)migration, “earning money is a key motive for all internationalization projects in the for-profit sector and for some traditional non-profit universities with financial problems” (p. 292)

Secondly, as mentioned, Morocco can exercise a political influence through culture and education over other African countries. It is the so-called “soft power”, theorised by Nye (1990), that the Kingdom uses to legitimise itself in African countries’ eyes as a regional power, a place where to send students for having an excellent education and greater job opportunities, thus attracting the élite of sub-Saharan countries, that will probably remain bound to Morocco after the studies, too. Through this strategy, Morocco is aiming at becoming a regional pole of excellence in the tertiary education field as well as an influent political actor in the region.

For these reasons, Morocco is trying to become what Hawawini (2016) labels as “importer”, which means being attractive for foreign students, researchers and professors of the higher education sector. The Kingdom has historically been an “exporter”, France being the main country benefiting from Moroccan student emigration (Laouali-Meyer, 2012).

Sub-Saharan student migration to Moroccan PHE: which migratory aspirations?

The region from which Morocco aims at attracting the most is sub-Saharan Africa, because of the generally bad conditions of higher education and of the presence of a wealthy élite within the society, that envisage every year to send their sons and daughters abroad. As said to me by a young Senegalese researcher, the “francophonie” is another important element for French-speaking sub-Saharans for choosing Morocco, as well as the fact that today this country is perceived as a good and cheaper (compared to the EU and the USA) place to study at the university.

Generally, it is important to remark that all the sub-Saharan students enrolled in Moroccan PHE come from a privileged part of their country’s urban society, even if it is very likely that still nowadays “the richer you are the further you go” (Mary, 2020), so the richest among the sub-Saharans still prefer European and American universities. For what concerns the choice of Morocco as country of destination, they are of course pushed by the possibility to have access to a better quality of education compared to the one available in their countries of origin. This has been confirmed to me by students from Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Senegal. Moreover, studying abroad is very desired, because of the opportunities that a degree in Morocco gives.

Indeed, it was interesting for me to analyse the ambitions concerning their long-period migration, after the graduation in Morocco. Particularly, I tried to understand if sub-Saharan students use Morocco only as a stepping stone towards richer countries, or if there was more to discover.

And, the interviews conducted in Morocco made me understand that there’s much more beyond my initial idea of a “gradual qualified migration” towards Western countries. Definitely, I could identify four migratory patterns, that are schematised in Figure 1.

The first kind of migration was explained to me by a Senegalese student of the Université International de Rabat (UIR). “When you search for a job in Senegal, they [the employers] will always prefer those who have studied abroad vis-à-vis those who have studied in the country”. Indeed, her plan was to get a worthy degree, in order to go back to the country and be preferable in the eyes of the employers.

The second kind of migration was reported to me by an Ivorian girl, who found out that living in Morocco was good: she found a good accommodation in a sub-Saharan neighbourhood and, as she graduated, she began an internship in the field of communication. She told me “for this reason, after my first three-year degree, I do not exclude to do also my master’s degree here in Rabat and to remain here even after. I leave all the doors opened!”.

A third kind migration is related to the use of Morocco as a stepping stone, as supposed at the beginning. An Ivorian girl, enrolled in a private professional hospitality school of Rabat, told frankly that she opted for a Canadian school based in Morocco’s capital city, that will give her the possibility to leave for Canada as soon as she can. Her intention is to settle there and not going back to Ivory Coast.

The fourth pattern of migration was displayed to me by a Congolese (DRC) girl, who told me that she was interested in going to the USA, but she preferred to gradually get closer to that world, which is so different from the one she was used to in DRC. For this reason, she decided to enrol at the Univeristé International de Rabat (UIR), and then, try to reach American’s universities, after her Bachelor in Morocco. But contrarily to the Ivorian girl of the “third pattern”, she would like to go back to her country of origin when she will have acquired a satisfying knowledge in a Western country, in order to “help [her] country to improve and develop”.

Figure 1 – Migratory patterns of Sub-Saharan students enrolled in Moroccan PHE

Moroccan private higher education sector: what’s next?

Definitely, Morocco is striving to become an “importer” of sub-Saharans students in the Kingdom’s universities for both economic and political reasons. And, for what concerns the students themselves, they aim at graduating in Moroccan PHE, because the quality of education is far higher than in their countries and because Morocco is cheaper than Western countries and closer to their countries of origin. Thus, Morocco is not only used as a stepping stone towards rich countries.

But the attractivity of Moroccan PHE institutions is not limited to sub-Saharan students, neither to students at large. Indeed, on the one hand, it would be interesting to investigate the particular type of north-south migration that sees students from rich countries enrolling in the Kingdom’s private universities for a bachelor’s or a master’s degree.

On the other hand, the North-south movement that involves professors and researchers from Western universities could be an interesting field to explore with regards to the motivation of this dynamic, the countries and universities involved and the attended results of this kind of exchanges.

Bibliography

Altbach, P.G. & Knight, J. (2007). The Internationalization of Higher Education: Motivations and Realities, Journal of Studies in International Education, Vol. 11 No. 3/4, Fall/Winter 2007, pp. 290-305.

Hawawini, G. (2016). The Internationalization of Higher Education and Business Schools A Critical Review, SpringerBriefs in Business.

Laouali, S. M. & Meyer, J-B. (2012). Le Maroc, pays d’accueil d’étudiants étrangers, Revue française de référence sur les dynamiques migratoires, hommes & migrations n° 1300, pp. 114-123

Mary, K. (2020). (Re)penser les liens entre catégories sociales et migrations pour études au Sud. Réflexions méthodologiques sur les attributs sociaux des élites maliennes, Migrations Société. 2020/2 n. 180, pp. 65-81.

Nye, J. (1990). Soft Power, Foreign Policy, Autumn, 1990, No. 80, Twentieth Anniversary (Autumn, 1990), pp. 153-171.

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