Germany Suspends Scholarships for Moroccan Students Amid Illegal Stay Concerns

No more scholarships in Germany for Moroccans. The Goethe Institute has made the decision to suspend them after 3 out of the 14 Moroccan students this year had abandoned their studies and refused to return home.

They preferred to illegally settle in Germany. This suspension of scholarships will continue until the situation is "clarified", it is said.

"We need to check how to avoid illegal stays," said Susanna Baumgart, Director of the Goethe Institute in Morocco. "For the 2020-2021 school year, we are considering a new start," she said.

In 2010, the Goethe Institute had ended its scholarships to Afghan students for similar reasons.

Each year, 14 Moroccan students go to Germany thanks to these scholarships, since 2008. However, Germany has seen a significant increase in the number of migrants from the Maghreb in recent years.

In 2018, it expelled 826 Moroccans illegally residing in the country, compared to 634 in 2017.

The number of immigrants expelled by Germany to the Maghreb has been multiplied by about 14 compared to 2015, according to the German Ministry of the Interior.