Arab Open University opens its 10th campus in Morocco, eyeing the African Sahel
Rabat, 24 June 2026 – The Arab Open University (AOU) has announced the opening of a new campus in Morocco, its tenth in the MENA region. The announcement was made by the Chairman of the AOU Board of Trustees, Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, during the university’s 45th Board of Trustees meeting, held via videoconference.
The Moroccan campus is set to welcome its first cohort of students at the start of the 2026–2027 academic year. Prince Abdulaziz expressed gratitude to King Mohammed VI and the Moroccan government for their support in bringing the campus to completion, and specifically commended the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research for its role in facilitating the project.
AOU President Prof. Mohammad Ibrahim Al-Zakari said the new campus would operate on an open-access basis with affordable tuition fees, in line with the university’s founding mission of making quality higher education available to all segments of Arab society, particularly those most in need. He also flagged a broader strategic ambition — positioning the Moroccan campus as an educational hub for learners across the African Sahel region, a signal that the university sees Morocco as a gateway to Francophone Africa rather than simply a national market.
The Moroccan campus will initially offer bachelor’s degree programmes across five fields of study: Data science, Computer Science, Management, and English Language, Literature and Translation (ELLT). The programme mix reflects AOU’s broader strategic emphasis on digital skills and employability, aligning with Morocco’s national priorities around technology education and economic diversification.
Founded in 2002 under the patronage of the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND), the Arab Open University currently operates campuses across nine Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Oman, Sudan and Iraq. The addition of Morocco marks the university’s first expansion into North Africa outside of Egypt and Sudan, and its first Francophone-majority campus.
The move reflects a broader trend of Gulf-backed educational institutions expanding into North Africa, as countries like Morocco position themselves as regional hubs linking the Arab world with sub-Saharan Africa. For Morocco specifically, it adds another internationally recognised institution to a higher education landscape that has seen significant private and international investment over the past decade.
This article is based on publicly available sources. MENA Higher Ed is an independent platform and has no affiliation with the Arab Open University.