The regional meetings are the embodiment of a participatory approach aimed at accelerating the transformation of the higher education system, while the reform of the medical training system represents the first step in addressing the shortage of human resources in Morocco. This is what the Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation said on Tuesday, December 27, during the weekly session of oral questions in the House of Councillors.
Abdellatif Miraoui thus indicated that the regional meetings organized in different regions of the Kingdom, as well as with Moroccan skills abroad, are the embodiment of the participatory approach aimed at mobilizing collective intelligence for the co-construction of the plan. national program for accelerating the transformation of the higher education system, scientific research and innovation.
They represent an opportunity to take stock of the conclusions of the consultation meetings with all the parties concerned inside and outside the system in order to collectively take ownership of the challenges and issues raised, he said. .
The results of these meetings, he continued, have enriched the process of drawing up the national plan through careful monitoring of the regions’ needs in human capital and at the level of development research sectors, while positioning itself on the expectations of civil society by highlighting initiatives of a social and cultural nature.
The Minister also indicated that his department works to mobilize partnerships between the university and its socio-economic and institutional environment, in particular the public authorities, as evidenced by the numerous agreements concluded, i.e. 127 agreements covering areas related to student life: university accommodation, national mobility grants, university activities, etc.
Miraoui adds that within the framework of the priorities of the Plan for accelerating the transformation of the higher education ecosystem, scientific research and innovation (ESRI 2030 PACTE), the results of these meetings have made it possible to enrich the training offer by launching new courses linked to local and regional development priorities, in particular 58 new courses during the current university season. They have also contributed to the development of a unified agenda of scientific, cultural, artistic and sporting activities at the level of all parties in order to enable students from different regions to benefit from these activities on an equal footing.
Similarly, the conferences have favored the launch of digital platforms to build capacities in the field of foreign languages on an experimental basis, before distributing them during the next university season and have initiated the launch of certain projects which express their character as emergency, such as coding centers in order to support the digital capacities of students through certification for the acquisition of new skills, explained the minister.
As for the reform of the training system in the medical field, Miraoui indicated that it is part of the support of the royal workshops to generalize health coverage for the benefit of all social strata.
This reform aims to raise the rate of health surveillance in order to comply with the standards of the World Health Organization while increasing the number of places in the faculties of medicine, pharmacy and dentistry and doubling the number of graduates , including doctors, nurses and technicians. This is what prompted the ministry to reduce the duration of medical training from 7 to 6 years, as is the case in several Anglo-Saxon countries.
In addition, the changes included in the educational control books for training in medicine, pharmacy and dentistry were approved during the meeting of the National Coordination Committee for Higher Education on May 18, 2022, said the Minister, adding that this decision comes into effect from the current academic year and concerns students enrolled from the first to the fourth year.
However, he stressed that students registered and who are in the fifth, sixth and seventh year, will remain subject to the directives of the previous decree for the national educational controls of the degree of doctor of medicine.
To conclude that the listed reforms, including the reduction of training time in medical courses, are in line with quality requirements through the adoption of the latest pedagogical approaches and the use of medical simulation technologies.
