Morocco has a youthful population, with 39% of residents aged between 20 and 45. Morocco is also home to the world’s oldest university, the University of Al Quaraouiyine in Fez founded around 859 by an Arab Muslim woman.

The Kingdom of Morocco allocates about 5.5% of its GDP to education, representing 25% of its national budget targeting both rural and urban areas as well as both public and private education systems.

Starting in 2015 under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Morocco is undergoing massive reforms to its educational system. The 2030 reforms, part of the New Development Model, intend to promote equity including the development, and diversification of the schools, development and diversification of private education and support for schooling in rural and semi-urban areas. It also aims at improving the quality of teaching and training through reforming the teaching profession and teacher training, promoting career pathways, developing the teaching model and promoting preschool education and speeding up its adoption across the country.

In this context, there have already been some tangible improvements. In 2020 around 1.7 million students were enrolled in tertiary education in Morocco. This is a significant increase from 2000 when only 290,634 students were enrolled. Morocco is home to numerous specialist Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) schools, with companies and the government working together to teach skills such as engineering and computer science.

Morocco has in recent years begun to rethink the university experience, with innovative centres such as Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) opening to students.

Open to the world and Africa in particular, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) is dedicated to research and higher education based on technology transfer, and incubation of innovative projects, with proximity to the corporate world. Through its study programmes centered on entrepreneurship and farming, especially in arid and semi-arid environments, UM6P trains the African leaders of tomorrow, while striving to advance agriculture.

To empower Moroccan young people to access the benefits of a smarter world, schools have opened across Morocco to teach students coding and digital skills. These schools collaboratively teach students the skills they will need to ensure the continued economic development of the country.

The 1337 Coding School is the first academy to provide coding and IT training in Morocco, completely free of charge, open and accessible to anyone between the ages of 18 and 30. No requirement for an IT degree or training. The only criterion for admission is creativity. Its educational approach is based on peer learning, where students support each other through project-based learning. To train the coders of tomorrow, 1337 had to rethink learning to make it fun, exciting and at odds with the restrictive vision that the general public may have about it. Launched in the mining town of Khourigba, 1337 has already launched a sister facility in Benguerir.

Although Arabic and French are the most used languages, English is fast growing in appeal to the younger generations, keen to explore new cultures and grasp the opportunities of new technologies and business relationships.

• 1.7 million students’ tertiary education (2020)
• 152,000 university graduates per year
• 39% of the population is between 20 and 45 years old
• 390 vocational training centres