University of Cadi Ayyad (UCA)

>Outreach to High School Students in Region
>Opportunities for Investment: "City of Innovation"

The University of Cadi Ayyad (UCA) in Marakech opened its doors in 1978 with 1,521 students, and has grown to embrace four campuses with 29, 703 students by the spring of 2010. UCA has eleven faculties (or colleges) located in two regions, In addition to Marrakech, its other three locations are Essaouria, Kelaa of Sraghna, and Safi. UCA's curriculum covers the full range of science, technology, business management, and the human and social sciences.

According to Dr. Mohammed Marzak, president of UCA, the university is setting its sights very high. The constant refrains heard at CAU are: "We aim to become a world-class university," and "We want sate-of-the-art research and innovation, and world recognition."

UCA has already earned high recognition according to international rating services for colleges and universities. Webomerics, a ranking of more than 12,000 universities of the world based on scholarly presence on the internet, ranks UCA as 3rd highest among Morocco's universities, 39th among the top 100 Arab universities; 39th among the top 100 universities in Africa; and 3,807th among all 12,007 rated universities of the world. The 4th International Colleges and Universities, another widely consulted rating service, ranks UCA 1st among Moroccan universities, 15th among African universities, and 1,639th among 10,200 world colleges and universities rated.

"Our past achievements have made us confident regarding the future," says Dr. Mohammed Marzak, President of UCA, "We aim for our university to become a world-class university that will attract not only the best students, but also the best faculty, administration, and staff."

According to Dr. Marzak, UCA benefits from having internationally recognized laboratories. "Our researchers are often published in foreign magazines and they often take part in joint thesis supervisions. UCA is very much involved with international networks for research and training, such as Tempus and Erasmus."

This goal naturally arises out of CAU's involvement in practical research contributing to the economic development of Morocco and its regions.

"The research sector is very lively in Morocco. Our labs are part of national research programmes: 25.5% of the research made on behalf of the National Center for Research in Rabat comes from Marrakech." It is with this background that Marzak says, "We want to license our laboratories for international recognition, and diversify our collaboration with foreign universities."

CAU has a plethora of internationally-oriented courses achieved through international partnerships with other universities. According to Marzak, "We have signed contracts with Japanese universities and have students completing their PhD there. Our researchers go there for conferences. We are discussing with universities in Latin America, Spain, the US, Canada and Indonesia. We also want to collaborate with organizations such as the World Bank and GrInsA in Bologna." In January 2011, another such partnership was signed with Tokyo International University (TIU).

The benefits of such international cooperation are, Marzak says, allowing "our students to do part of their studies abroad, which would increase their intellectual opportunities and make the open to other cultures. International recognition also implies recognition of our research laboratories."

Outreach to High School Students in Region

CAU is closely involved with the success of its students and its region, and works

"in synergy with local schools. We have created a regional commission for education with the Regional Academy of Marrakech and Al Jadida. They have organized open days and forums in universities for high school students to discover what opportunities they have. We are also working on improving educational standards within high schools, particularly by creating more technical courses to better prepare them for professional training. We have hired counselors to welcome them and advise them on which courses to follow given the labor market as well as their own skills. We have also made tutoring classes obligatory for first year students."

In regard to its care for students, CAU is proud that it is the first university in Morocco to meet the requirements of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which sets international standards for business, government, and society. ISO 9001:2008 is focused on meeting customer expectations and delivering customer satisfaction, and determining whether the quality management system is effective, and requiring constant monitoring and improvement.

Opportunities for Investment: "City of Innovation"

CAU has embarked on a project to create a technology park to be known as the "City of Innovation." At this point, initial feasibility studies are completed, and the University is working with the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies to complete the plans. Central to the plan is to attract investors who will want the full cooperation and involvement of both the university faculty and administration, and also the surrounding community. Thus, says Marzak,

"Local councilors, national businesses and international businesses are to take part in the project. The park will host the university's network of researchers, as enterprises lack researchers considerably, and have a lot to gain from our highly qualified researchers. Research will focus particularly on water, environment and renewable energies, tourism, food industry and materials."{jcomments off}