Rabat – The Administrative Court of Oujda issued a ruling today ordering the suspension of Mohammed I University’s decision to impose registration fees on civil servant PhD candidates.
According to converging reports, the ruling comes after weeks of public debate within academic circles, allowing affected candidates to resume their doctoral studies without financial or administrative barriers.
Several civil servants who sought to enroll in doctoral programs had challenged the university’s measure, arguing that the fees “undermine their right to pursue their academic path, especially since most already carry professional and social responsibilities that make such costs particularly burdensome.”
The court’s decision temporarily pauses a requirement that critics say risked restricting access to higher education for working professionals.
The case unfolds at a moment of heightened tension across Moroccan universities. Over recent months, campuses have witnessed sit-ins and demonstrations by doctoral students, civil servants and non-civil servants alike, who rejected what they described as an “attack on the principle of free public higher education and equality of opportunity.”
Student unions and professional groups argue that the new framework for doctoral training and research was adopted without any participatory process.
Major student organizations, including engineering and medical student bodies as well as sections of the National Union of Moroccan Students (UNEM), have denounced what they consider a unilateral approach to reshaping a strategic national sector.
They warn that the reform “could pave the way for a creeping privatization of higher education through ambiguous legal provisions, putting at risk the public university’s free access model and threatening thousands of students from modest backgrounds.”
The Oujda ruling may encourage doctoral candidates at other universities to file similar challenges, as opposition to the new fees continues to gain ground nationwide.
