Sidi Ifni- According to Lahcen Daoudi, Minister of Higher Education, Morocco lags behind remarkably in terms of scientific research.
Sidi Ifni- According to Lahcen Daoudi, Minister of Higher Education, Morocco lags behind remarkably in terms of scientific research.
During a conference held by Doctoral students in Rabat, Daoudi drew the audience’s attention to the bitter reality that Morocco’ scientific research has regressed and moved from third to six place in Africa.
“Many things must be taken into consideration in order to do something about our scientific research,” Daoudi noted.
“The future of Morocco lies in the development of its scientific research,” Daoudi added.
The minister went on to attribute the deficiencies that the field suffers from to the fact that teachers, along with students, are not motivated to carry out scientific research.
Advancement at Moroccan universities, the minister explained, occurs by seniority, not by the amount of research in conducted in the field by the professors.
“This is, among other things, a motive behind professors’ hesitancy to contribute to the field,” Daoudi remarked.
On the other hand, the minister added that the countries that are determined to improve the field create suitable conditions for the ambitious researchers.
So as to overcome the stumbling blocks to Morocco’s lagging, backward scientific research, Daoudi has suggested several remedies.
“We need to allocate the field enough financial support. We also need to restructure the university from scratch to catch up with the world,” the minister suggested.
“The grants of students must also be raised,” he added.
The Ministry of Education, the Daoudi underscored, is currently working to fund scientific research projects and motivate researchers to employ the tools that they have learned to contribute to scientific advancement in the twenty-first century.
“The tarnished reputation of Morocco’s scientific research must be discarded,” Amri Said, a postgraduate student from Ibn Zohr University, told MWN.
Edited by Anna Jacobs
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