Rabat – As the number of Moroccan students studying abroad increases every year, France hosts the largest Moroccan student community which showcases an outstanding performance in math and physics in French engineering schools.
The French news outlet Le Figaro underscored that Moroccan students show remarkable performances in ‘Campus France’ exams taken to enter the most prestigious and selective schools, such as Ecole Polytechnique and CentraleSupelec.
“Every year, Moroccan students make sparks at the exams of French engineering schools,” the same source stated.
The Polytechnic school currently hosts over 160 Moroccan students, 110 of whom are enrolled in the engineering degree program, Le Figaro added, highlighting their “incredible level” in mathematics and physics.
Morocco has about twenty institutions offering 19 scientific preparatory classes for grandes ecoles (elite higher education institutions) in both Morocco and France, which Le Firago described as “a record,” noting that the French engineering school EIGSI La Rochelle has opened a campus in Casablanca.
“Passing the exam was not more difficult for me than for a French student, I was very well prepared,” said Mohammed El Asri, a 21-year-old Moroccan engineering student at Telecom Paris school, was quoted by Le Figaro.
El Asri graduated from Lycee d’Excellence (Lydex) that opened in 2015 in the Green City Mohammed VI of Benguerir, an innovative city launched in 2019 by Morocco’s OCP Group.
In 2021, 11 students from Lydex joined the French Polytechnic school.
“Moroccan students are very well trained in mathematics and physics, their level is incredible,” Director of International Relations at Ecole Polytechnique Gaelle Le Goff said.
She described Moroccan students as students who “stand out by winning prizes and competitions. They drive a good team dynamic.”
Moroccans are the largest foreign community that chooses France to pursue higher studies.
According to the French Agency for the Promotion of Higher Education, Hospitality, and International Mobility “Campus France,” 44,933 moroccan students have enrolled in French universities for the academic year 2020-2021, 13% go to engineering schools.
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“Moroccans, who have gone through Centrale or Polytechnique [schools], can work as engineers but also create companies, run a large group, go into politics,” Philippe Dufourcq, deputy director general of CentraleSupélec explained.
At the beginning of the school year, two Moroccan students of Polytechnic, Issam Tauil and Ayman Echagraoui, won gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad, reports Le Figaro, citing the director of international relations of the Polytechnic.
The Moroccan association of former students of Ecole Polytechnique counts over 300 members, including former ministers M’hamed Douiri (the first Moroccan polytechnician) and Mohamed Kabbaj as well as the former CEO of Royal Air Maroc Driss Benhima.
