The Moroccan Ministry of National Education, Professional Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research has officially launched a program to encourage student entrepreneurship within Moroccan universities.
The program aims to set up a national scheme to grant interested university students the status of ‘Student-Entrepreneur’ thus allowing them to create enterprises within university courses. The program will be run first in two pilot institutions in Rabat and Casablanca for the current academic year 2018/2019 before generalizing it at the national level.
Dedicated centers serving as incubators were recently inaugurated in the two university sites in Rabat and Casablanca. Students will also benefit from specialized training, seminars, workshops and individual support throughout the process of their business creation.
According to a Ministerial note sent to university presidents, the program will target students enrolled in their last year of university either in public higher education institutions or in private institutions that are recognized by the state. Students wishing to benefit from this status should fill a standardized application form to enter the selection process. University presidents supervise the selection process and decide on the beneficiaries, the latter should then respect the selection conditions and follow the training requirements.
The student entrepreneurship program is developed under a regional project coordinated by the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and financed by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program.
Known for its French acronym as SALEEM, or Structuration et Accompagnement de l’Entrepreneuriat Étudiant au Maghreb, the project involves 14 partners and aims to encourage student entrepreneurship in the Maghreb countries, particularly in Morocco and Tunisia.
SALEEM is principally modelled on the French Pépite network, which was set up in 2013 and comprises 29 centres throughout France offering relevant training and support for students to set up innovatory projects and their own enterprises.