Marrakech – The National Union of Higher Education (SNE-Sup) has announced a 24-hour warning strike on Wednesday, September 17, marking the beginning of a protest campaign against the government’s new higher education law.
The strike will be followed by further actions, including demonstrations, marches, and the freezing of membership in elected university bodies.
“This critical period is marked by the passing of Bill 59.24 with a complete absence of participatory methodology,” the union stated in a press statement issued following its administrative committee meeting at the Faculty of Sciences in Rabat on Sunday, September 14.
The union firmly rejected the current version of Bill 59.24, claiming it carries risks that affect the identity of public universities, threatens their autonomy and free access, and opens the door to privatization.
More specifically, it cautioned that “this constitutes a dangerous step that targets the essence of public universities through entrenching marginalization, legitimizing privatization within the university system, and undermining free higher education by weakening its independence and democracy, transforming university councils into merely formal or advisory structures, and deepening institutional fragmentation and balkanization.”
SNE-Sup has called on the government to freeze the approval process for the bill and return it to the negotiating table. “The Ministry has abandoned its previous commitments to the union, notably the pledge to open serious dialogue on comprehensive reform of the higher education and scientific research system,” the statement declared.
The professors further accused the ministry of persisting in “its unilateral approach in implementing national pedagogical regulation guidelines, seeking to impose changes to university governance rules without involving elected bodies – a move that tramples their roles and undermines the participatory framework essential for any genuine reform.”
In addition to opposing the new law, the union is demanding immediate responses to professors’ legitimate concerns. These include “urgent resolution of the French doctorate issue, settling the 2023 promotion files and expediting the 2024 and 2025 files,” along with counting general seniority acquired in public service.
The union is also calling for “revising index tables, exempting scientific research compensation from taxation, reducing promotion years, shortening timeframes for changing frameworks,” as well as ensuring administrative management of university institutions remains with professors and/or researchers.
SNE-Sup stressed that any higher education reform must be based on clear principles of “unification, autonomy, democracy, good governance, and free access,” while rejecting “any attempt to undervalue or marginalize non-university higher education institutions.”
Faculty push for higher research budgets, democratic engagement
The union also advocated for “increasing the budget allocated to scientific research in line with international standards, providing basic research and innovation infrastructure, and improving working conditions for research teams.”
“This is a fundamental entrance to advancing Moroccan universities and strengthening their position nationally and internationally,” the committee asserted regarding research funding.
To ensure a smooth start to the academic year, SNE-Sup has urged all professors to “continue working according to the tracks adopted during the past academic year and the pedagogical guidelines notebook (2023/2024).”
However, it confirmed its “commitment to boycotting any pedagogical amendment or procedure unless university departments and structures are allowed to express their opinions and proposals.”
These, according to the union, should fall within “a genuine participatory approach that ensures the involvement of all actors, and the formulation of pedagogical reform agreed upon with the National Union of Higher Education.”
The union has announced plans for a press conference on the same day as the strike to explain the details of the dispute.
It has also pressed for “forming a broad national front to defend public universities, including various vital forces and democratic components, to preserve free higher education and strengthen the position of public universities as a fundamental lever for national development.”
The administrative committee has delegated to the national bureau “the authority to manage this protest program and expand it according to developments in the file,” while deciding to keep its meeting open for further action if necessary.
