Al Akhawayn University Celebrates its 18th anniversary

By Mustafa Ettouali

Morocco World News

Fez, January 22, 2013

In less than two decades after its founding, Al Akhawyn University (AUI) has become the pearl of higher education in Morocco.

King Hassan II, may Allah bless his soul along, with the Saudi Arabian king Fahd Ibn Abdulaziz inaugurated the University on 16 January 1995. During the short period of 18 years almost 3000 graduates have gone through AUI, which has strived to make them leaders in their fields. AUI highly qualified graduates are now working in different sectors either in Morocco or abroad, demonstrating the high caliber and importance of the education they received.

The eighteenth anniversary marks the transition between two distinct phases from infancy to maturity, from locally to internationally renowned as the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) granted candidacy status to Al Akhawayn University. This is thanks to the AUI courses and syllabuses that have been accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), The Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA) and European Foundation for Management Development(EFMD).

Now, bearing the torch of higher education in Morocco, and being aware of the present and future challenges for the country and its youth, Al Akhawyn University devotes itself and its curriculum to liberal arts so as to be defined as a “liberal arts university” similar to top American and Canadian colleges.

Through canonizing itself as liberal arts University, Al Akhawyn University strives to equip its students with broad general knowledge and general intellectual capacities by which its graduates can face the obscurity and the unexpected of the future.

Unlike vocational and academic institutions which give importance to the curricula rather than the student, the liberal art universities takes the opposite approach, making the students a pivotal axis of its curriculum, as each student is given more individual attention.

To achieve that, the university is working on the following issues in its strategic plan:

• Reinforcement of the North American Educational Model
• Quality Assurance and Accreditation
• Growth and Development
• Internationalization of the University
• Financial Sustainability
• Educational Leadership and Innovation
• Human Capital Development

“If the university is on the threshold of international recognition it is due to long term strategies set by its executives and the hard work of its staff,” said a university professor who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity.

“If our country were to reform its education system and provide the marketplace with highly qualified graduates, we should have more universities like AUI,” he added.