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Morocco’s Doctoral Students Push to End High Training Fees Amid 90% Dropout Rate
Wednesday 4 November 2020, by
Doctoral training in Morocco is becoming increasingly expensive, forcing many doctoral students to drop out just before the finish line. A 90% dropout rate is recorded each year.
The main factor that favors this high dropout rate is related to the annual training fees. Moreover, employees and civil servants who wish to enroll in the research cycle have initiated a procedure for the abolition of training fees. They pay between 5,000 and 10,000 DH per year depending on their salary. An amount that makes no sense, according to these civil servants, especially with an academic year disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
This is not the first time that the abolition of training fees has been raised by doctoral students. The issue had been raised a few years ago. It led to a lawsuit against the Mohammed V University of Rabat, which won on appeal. The University is now the only institution to require this pricing, which according to it, is a "civic contribution" that supports the quality of training.