Morocco’s higher education budget is growing — but its share of the national budget is shrinking

Morocco’s Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation saw its operating budget grow from 14.12 billion to 14.63 billion dirhams between 2024 and 2025 — a 3.6% increase in absolute terms. But over the same period, Morocco’s overall state operating budget grew even faster, from 232.8 billion to 260.5 billion dirhams, an increase of nearly 12%.

The result, shown in Panel A, is that higher education’s share of the national operating budget actually fell, from 6.07% to 5.62%. The picture is sharper still for investment spending: the Ministry’s investment budget dropped from 1.97 billion to 1.80 billion dirhams — an 8.4% decline — while its share of the state’s total investment budget fell from 1.66% to 1.40%.

Panel B breaks down where the Ministry’s own operating budget actually goes. Staff salaries dominate at 66.5% of spending — nearly 9.74 billion dirhams — dwarfing every other category. Scholarships take the next largest share at 13.9%, followed by subsidies to university establishments at 12.1%. Research promotion, university housing subsidies, and central administration together account for less than 10% combined.

The pattern suggests that even as Morocco’s overall public spending expands, higher education is not capturing a proportional share of that growth — and within its own budget, the vast majority of spending is committed to salaries before any funds reach research, infrastructure, or student support.

Source: Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, Direction des Stratégies et des Systèmes d’Information, L’Enseignement Supérieur en Chiffres 2024-2025, p.77