Research: the Weak Link in the Moroccan Higher Education System

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Research: the Weak Link in the Moroccan Higher Education System

⌈ Research: the weak link in the Moroccan Higher Education System ⌉

By Hassan Bouzidi*
October 4, 2016

⌈ Our Education system is in a permanent state of “emergency” ⌉

The word “emergency” rather conjures up images of a comatose patient being rushed to hospital to undergo urgent treatment. The patient under scrutiny here is the Moroccan education system knocked out by a never-ending series of misguided reforms implemented since the country gained independence from France in 1956.

The emergency plan (2009-2012) put forward by the then Moroccan Education Minister, Ahmed Akhchichine came largely as a response to the disappointing results of the “Education Decade” launched in 2000. Back then, the reforms were hailed as a panacea for the education system’s ills and expectations were high. Today, those expectations have been dampened by the disappointing results. The reforms proved to be mainly ‘cosmetic’ and failed to address the core issues of ‘falling standards’, ‘overcrowding’, and ‘underfunding’.    

As far as research is concerned, little has changed. Recent international reports (World Bank, UNESCO and others) have awarded Morocco a bad mark for its achievement in this domain. Disgruntled academics blame the lack of motivation to do research on (a) dearth of official funding, (b) absence of accountability, and (c) unpopularity of the “Tenure and Promotions” system.

⌈ Dearth of funding ⌉

The proportion of GDP allocated for research in any one country constitutes a significant indicator as to the existence of real political will in this area. Prior to 1998, Morocco never had a separate state funding for research; the funds used to come out of the general public budget for running universities. Today, the government is boasting about raising the research funding from 0.3 percent of GDP in 1998 to 0.8 percent this year. Under the latest Emergency Plan, some 570,000,000 DH has been earmarked for research over the coming three years.  Just over half that amount (300,000,000 DH) is funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and the remainder (270,000,000 DH) funded by the Private Sector.  

This is a far cry from the 6-12 percent the private sector has traditionally contributed to research funding, coming mainly from the telecommunications companies which over the years have been making huge profits despite the global financial crisis.  The incessant calls on the part of the government to get other businesses to contribute seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

Regional authorities rarely ever contribute to research funding in their respective regions.  Tangier Tetouan Alhoucaima Regional Council has recently broken this rule.  The Council will provide some 65,000,000 DH in the context of an agreement signed (May 25, 2016) by Lahcen Daoudi, Minister Higher Education, and Ilyas Elomari, Head of the region, in support of research in local universities.  “Too little, too late”, say academics.

⌈ Absence of accountability ⌉

Second, lack of accountability. Academics are not motivated to do research for one simple reason: they receive a research allowance they do not have to account for. A university teacher’s basic salary is for teaching. In addition, teachers receive an “allowances” package: the first for ‘supervision’ work, the second for ‘housing’ expenses and the third for ‘research’. The research allowance is awarded with the assumption that academics will engage in some sort of research and will publish the results for the benefit of the wider public. No system of verification has been put in place to check if research is being carried out or not. The majority of faculty have come to take it for granted; they see no point in competing for a research “grant” that has become an indivisible part of their salaries. In fact, many are surprised when they hear that a good portion of their salary is actually a research allowance.

⌈ Unpopular “Tenure and Promotions” ⌉

Third, lack of a ‘fair’ and ‘democratic’ system of promotions. This problem has taken its toll on motivation to do research. Candidates for promotion are picked at random and are drawn from various faculties within any one university. Within each faculty, a ‘scientific committee’ puts forward a group of five candidates, which constitutes 20% of the total to be promoted at the university level. Each candidate is awarded ‘points’ on the basis of his or her ‘Dossier Scientifique’: two points for a published article, three for a published book, two for taking part in a conference or symposium, seven for acting as head of department, and so forth.

Only, given the nature of each discipline, the chances to publish or take part in a conference home or abroad are not at all equal. Faculty in the Department of Languages, for example, find themselves competing with colleagues from the Department of “Geography” or “Physics” where opportunities are much more available. But that is not the only issue.

A three-tier regime is used in promoting teachers: ‘Normal’, ‘Rapide’ and ‘Exceptionel’. All five candidates in any one group have earned the right to promotion under the ‘Normal’ regime because they have spent a number of years in a particular ‘Grade’ (assistant professor, senior lecturer, professor, etc.). The difference their ‘dossier scientifique’ will make is that, if they are awarded a good mark, their promotion will be ‘backdated’ by two yeas under the ‘Exceptionel’ regime (best mark) and by one year under the ‘Rapide’ regime (second best mark). The remaining three candidates in the group, who also happen to have a solid research background (that is why they have been picked in the first place!) see themselves being promoted under the ‘Normal’ regime, which means that they are treated the same as those with a blank CV for whom ‘seniority’ will be the sole determining factor of pay and promotion. They start wondering why they have gone through the trouble of publishing when all they needed to do was to sit back and wait (along with the others) for their promotion time to arrive.

⌈ What should be done to salvage the situation? ⌉

First of all, the next government (to be decided by the October 7th elections) needs to elaborate a serious and ambitious policy to promote research and turn it into a strategic tool to meet the urgent needs of the Moroccan people.

Lahcen Daoudi, the current Higher Education Minister has spoken about a plan to regroup research centers inside the country in order to create a single research centre in each field. This is a welcome initiative, but more should be done to persuade those still resisting change.  Recent strikes and sit-ins by students  at ESTA (Higher School of Applied Technologies) in 11 cities up and down the country are a case in point.  Their refusal to let their institutions be merged with others under the new appellation of “polytechnic” is based on the fear that they might lose the academic “prestige” the appellation “ESTA” conferred on their degrees, especially when applying for a job.  They could not care less about the research benefits they might gain under a system of “polytechnic”.

Lahcen Daoudi, a staunch proponent of the use of English as a medium of education and research, has been repeatedly urging students and academics to learn the language of Shakespeare arguing that it is the language of science and learning.  The High Council for Education, Training and Research has recently recommended that French be kept as the second language of Education, thus ending a fierce debate between the defenders of French and those fighting to introduce English as a medium of instruction.  Despite this setback, Lahcen Daoudi is adamant that English is the way to go.  A new condition for PhD students has just been introduced: candidates will not be able to defend their theses unless they publish at least one article in English.  During a meeting with students in the south of Morocco, Lahcen Daoudi has even gone as far as saying that “those who do not speak English had better dig their own graves”.  The Minister may be right about English as an international vehicle of knowledge, but training and research can be carried out in any language, given the right conditions.

The share of GDP reserved for research is too insignificant and should be raised to allow Higher Education institutions to carry out research. A scholarship program should be put in place to encourage students to do research.  Universities are still heavily dependent on the central government. ‘University autonomy’ remains an empty slogan, despite the existence of laws advocating this autonomy. The government should provide sufficient funding and let universities use the cash to put in place their own internal, regional and local policies.

Active collaboration with the economic sector is too weak. Universities should encourage a spirit of entrepreneurship and liaise with the local industries to decide on ‘research priorities’. By so doing, universities will not only be able to secure new sources of cash, but also opt for a more ‘applicable’ approach to research. The bulk of the findings of research carried out by the CNRST (Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique), for example, remain confined to journals without any application because researchers have failed to collaborate with the end users of research: local industry.

Academics should realize that receiving a research allowance without giving something in return (or at least pretending to) is a waste of taxpayer’s money and threatens their own existence as academics. There are already good indications that the government is about to introduce ‘contractual’ appointments in universities and a new law to that effect is pending approval.   If the law is passed, it would mean that ‘contract’ renewal would be linked to ‘productivity’ and the newly recruited academics will not benefit from an ‘automatic’ research allowance. Such laws have been tried in Europe and elsewhere in recent years and have proved to be very unpopular because they put pressure on academics, create an atmosphere of ‘job insecurity’, and do not necessary lead to productivity.

The “Tenure and Promotions” system is a source of resentment, hurts competition and rewards ‘idleness’. I have personally experienced the absurdity of such a system first hand, for having served on my faculty’s ‘scientific committee’ for two years. The system should be drastically reviewed if not replaced.

Finally, academics complain that one of the reasons successive reforms have failed is exactly because teachers have not been consulted and that laws have largely been dictated from above. A reform stands a better chance of success when it is undertaken after consultation with those who are directly concerned: teachers and students.

During the last decade, ambitious projects have been launched by Morocco in various fields, including the national plan for industry, the Azur Plan to promote tourism (and attract 20 million tourists by 2020) and the Green Morocco plan to promote agriculture. Despite the recent slowdown, other emerging countries are busy upgrading their economic systems to meet the challenges of globalization. Morocco cannot compete successfully without the establishment of a sound research base.

A huge electrical shock is needed to bring the education system (the locomotive to any economic development) out of its prolonged coma ^__ and resuscitate research in the process.

*Academic,  Ibn Zohr University, Agadir