Hamza al-Kettani

M orocco: the Uohammadia of E n g i n e e r i n g

The decision to found the Mohammadia College of Engineering (MCE) was taken by the Moroccan Government in 1958, two years after independence. Initially its aims were modest: to provide polytechnical training related to the major priority production sectors of the economy--public works, mining, electrical and mechanical engineering. At that stage the course was designed to cover three years of practical study leading to the award of an engineering diploma. But, almost as soon as the course had been devised, the large number of prospective students who had passed the mathematical baccalaurdat induced the authorities to bring in their first reform: the duration of the course was increased to four years and the standard was raised to that of higher education, the MCE being attached to the Mohammed V University. This arrangement continued from 196o to 197o, producing 560 engineers in IO intakes, to the entire sarisfaction of employers in the public, semi-public and private sectors. In I97O, at the Ifrane Symposium, a vast national forum at which the future pattern of higher education was to be defined by the highest State authorities, the vital step of ex-

Hamza al-Kettani (Morocco). Director of the Mohammadia College of Engineering, Rabat.

254 Prospects~ Vol. VI, No. 2, z976

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tending the duration of the MCE's course to five years was finally taken. What prompted the Ifrane Symposium's decision? In the first place, after a five-year course in his own country, a young Moroccan graduate with a State Engineer's degree would be eligible for promotion to the highest grades in the civil service. These well-paid posts, involving an extremely high degree of technical responsibility, had previously been open only to Moroccans who had studied abroad. From this point of view, the provision, in Morocco itself, of advanced courses of study which were readily accessible to all qualified school-leavers with a mathematics specialization was undoubtedly a vital contribution to the process of democratizing higher education in Morocco. Apart from these social considerations, the decision had equally scientific implications. The efforts which were to be made subsequently to create an advanced polytechnic on the basis of the existing structure were to prove rewarding for the nation as a whole. By developing its own original university technical education structures, Morocco was to a great extent reducing her dependence on foreign countries and, in particular, was putting an end to the exposure of young Moroccans to the danger of being moulded by alien cultural patterns and ways of thinking, and, in doing so, was alleviating that all-too familiar scourge of emerging countries,

Morocco: the Mohammadia College of Engineering

the brain drain and the inability of those who return home to come to grips with the realities of local circumstances. Have these aims been fulfilled at the Mohammadia College of Engineering? Is the struggle over? Admittedly much still remains to be done in many spheres, but as will be seen, our desire for national seN-sufficiency has not led us into a policy of isolationism but, on the contrary, has provided a basis for evolving different procedures for collaboration with foreign agencies and governments which give us assistance and which, in return, are likely to benefit from our experience.

W h o s t u d i e s at t h e M C E ?

Until recent years, there were very few Moroccan school-leavers with baccalaurdat mathematics and science specializations, and the number of places available at the college exceeded the demand. Only recently have improvements in the secondary-school system brought about a perceptible change in this situation. In view of this shortage, it would have been regrettable if the shakeout which inevitably occurs in the initial years of engineering training among those who have not been accepted for studies in their first scientific option had meant that our 6lite was to be denied a valuable potential source of brainpower in the form of baccalaur~at-level mathematics specialists. Accordingly, it was decided to devote the first two (preparatory) years of the course to a general study of mathematics and physics, thereby enabling students who ought to leave the MCE, or who might wish to do so, to move on and, in particular, to transfer to an equivalent level in the Faculty of Science, subject to their successfully completing an attainment examination. This 'bridge' system works both ways, and a number of students from other institutions are able, after passing an examin-

ation, to enrol at the MCE to begin their specialization years. The operation of this scheme, attractive though it was, had a somewhat disturbing effect on the syllabuses taught at the college. Concerned as we were to ensure equivalent standards, we had appointed specialists in mathematics and physics to teach students during the two preparatory years. The standards set were therefore those of university-level mathematics and physics, with the result that we have so far been unable to avoid a certain hiatus between what is taught in the first two years and what is taught subsequently in the years of specialization by teachers who take a somewhat different view of the 'basic' sciences and emphasize, above all, their practical applications. In other words, it may be wondered whether this general approach, which undoubtedly has the merit of keeping options open, necessarily provides the most suitable training for engineers. It is difficult at the present stage to suggest any clear-cut way of resolving this disagreement. In addition to the students with a mathematical baccalaurdat, who take the complete course, candidates for the college are also recruited from among holders of an engineering diploma, such as those who had completed the college's original four-year course and wish to upgrade their qualifications and qualify as State Engineers. The best candidates in this category are given the opportunity to return to the college for a further year of study in a particular special subject. The fact that the MCE admits not only Moroccan nationals but also a comparatively high proportion of similarly qualified foreign students sponsored by their governments is evidence of our concern for universality and international co-operation in recruiting our students on as broad a basis as possible.

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W h a t subjects are studied at t h e M C E ? Now that the decision has been made to concentrate the MCE's resources on training State Engineers, and, wherever necessary, to supplement these resources in order to achieve this goal, the question arises as to who will now be responsible for providing the four-year training courses for engineers and the three-year courses for senior technicians which were previously run by the MCE. The basic need for auxiliary technical personnel cannot be denied. Several ministries have already set up higher technical institutes of their own on somewhat empirical lines, and the various qualifications which they award are recognized by the government departments responsible for each particular branch. Many of these institutes have acquired a well-earned reputation both in Morocco and abroad. Although there is some degree of co-ordination between them and the MCE, the existence of a multitude of institutions responsible solely to their parent ministries impedes the establishment of an integrated system of post-secondary technical education which would make it possible to view the problem as a whole and to solve it at national level, with due regard to all aspects of our economy. The MCE is, and has always been, committed to a polyteclmical approach to the major industrial sectors, with more specialized options available during the fourth and fifth years of study. An important change was made in the former Mining Section, for example, which is part of a more general Department of Mineral Engineering. This department has a distinctly national focus, and covers all the sciences and industries connected with the extraction of minerals. Table I which follows shows the basic range o f subjects taught at the MCE. This range of specialities and options was drawn up in response to the priority demands made by representative Moroccan industrial and

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TABLE I. List of specializations at the M C E

First and second years

General and technical courses. Mathematics and computer science. Physics. Chemistry. Workshop and basic technical skills.

Third year

Four major specializations (Departments): Mineral engineering; Civil engineering; Electrical engineering; Mechanical engineering.

Fourth Within each specialization the following options are available (Sections): and fifth Mineral Engineering: Geology; Hydrogeology; Mining engineering; years Mineral chemical engineering. Civil engineering: Public works; Environmental engineering; Hydraulics. Mechanical engineering: Building; Heat engineering and motors. Electrical engineering: Electrotechnics; Automation and industrial electronics.

economic sectors, subject, of course, to the availability of educational facilities.

Characteristics of t h e syllabuses The specializations available at the MCE were chosen, as we have seen, on the basis of the needs of the country's economy and industrial development, with regard both to the availability of material and financial resources, and to staffing possibilities. The syllabuses reflect the same concerns. I f one looks closely at the curricula of the specialization years, it is clear that the relevance of the available options to the realities of Moroccan industry has been a prime consideration. For obvious reasons, the focus is on practical, supervised activities, as befits an engineering college, as well as on acquiring experience of factories and work-sites of a typically Moroccan kind by means of training courses and visits.

Morocco: the MohammadiaCollege of Engineering

Let us dwdl for a moment on these training courses which are a tradition going back to the early days of the MCE. During the vacation at the end of each year of study, except for the first and the fifth, the student attends courses in a sequence which has proved entirely satisfactory, namely: introductory, training and final courses. The fourth-year courses are a specific preparation for the final-year projects which the future engineers are required to submit at the end of their course of study. The proiects--more than one of which are required in certain sections-afford some scope for an original treatment of an industrial theme. During their course the students decide on their subiect and collect basic material. A whole semester of the final year wiU be given over entirely to project work. Training courses have been organized with the aid and co-operation of various countries, including France, Belgium, Canada and Romania and were much appreciated by all concerned as a means of acquiring experience of the outside world. A combination of economic circumstances and budgetary stringency has made such courses increasingly difficult to arrange. At the same time, as a result of the spread of industrialization and the increased awareness of Moroccan business firms of the problem of training engineers at home, it is now possible to arrange periods of industrial experience for students in Morocco itself. Experience of this kind is of the greatest benefit to our future engineers in that it entails direct contact with the realities of the Moroccan situation. In addition to lectures on the major branches of engineering which are a fundamental part of the course in the specialization years, there are also lectures on specific techniques used in Morocco for roads, bridges, industrial electronics, industrial chemistry, and so forth. The distinctive national focus of these courses of lectures is often reflected in their titles (Industrial Chemistry in Morocco, for example) and

in practice they are frequently given by prominent outside experts from appropriate technical bodies. The MCE's curriculum is thus original in character and is by no means a duplicate of the traditional type of curriculum found in the ancient universities of Europe and elsewhere. It is the result of a substantial concerted effort involving the coUege teaching staff, industrialists and representatives of former students. Our objective has always been to ensure that students who have completed the MCE course bear the stamp of this institution and are able to take their place in an environment with which they have been familiar from the start, namely the economic life of Morocco. It will suffice to illustrate the foregoing remarks by referring to the options open to students in the Department of Mineral Engineering which has become the MCE's pilot department as a result of its recent structural re-organization. Its Mining option is deliberately geared to our mining industry which is of such vital importance to our economy. Two other options, Mining geology and Mineral chemical engineering, are equally original in that they channel students of general Geology and Applied chemistry towards specialization in the mining industry. Lastly, the Hydrogeology option meets the needs of one of the major government departments and constitutes our contribution to the crucial problem of water resources research and the utilization of water, regarded in Morocco as top priority objectives.

Policy i m p l e m e n t a t i o n

How does this system operate in practice? The answer varies from one department to another according to the magnitude of the problems with which each is contending. To begin with, our resolve to offer original options and not merely copy existing patterns ruled out any easy solutions. Moreover, for the ~57

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traditional basic engineering subjects such as Electrical engineering, Mechanical engineering, Computer science and Strength of materials, the switch from a four-year engineering course to a State Engineer's degree course entailed more than merely adding an extra year of study. It involved raising the whole level of the subjects taught and consequently preparing the ground both intellectually, through serious thought and consultations with the teaching staff, and materially, by building new laboratories or improving the equipment of existing ones.

Substantial resources were needed to attain these objectives. Our success has been largely due to the national effort, and also to assistance from various bodies abroad. Since last winter, the MCE campus has resembled a vast building site. The new buildings are springing up: laboratories for chemical engineering, automation, metallurgy, a new computing centre, lecture and reading-rooms, offices, administrative and residential buildings. Aid from abroad has been forthcoming throughout the college's history, and the time has perhaps come to draw attention to some of the aspects of international co-operation that stand out as landmarks in the history of the MCE. In the first place, there was the contribution of Unesco and the United Nations Development Programme, to whose initial project we owe the original nucleus of the college. Neither the workshops nor the initial equipment could have been built or acquired without their active co-operation. We are pleased to acknowledge that all the subsequent additions to our college stemmed from this original nucleus. More recently, the World Health Organization has created the International Centre for Sanitary Engineering at the college, providing specialized training for engineers from Frenchspeaking African and Asian countries. This centre, the first to award State Engineer degrees at the MCE, later became a constituent part of 9.58

the college when the latter was re-organized. It is now the basic component of our Environmental Engineering Department. An even more recent development is the King Baudouin Computing Centre, built by the Moroccan Government and equipped with a new computer linked to the other university faculties, donated by the Belgian Government and capable of meeting the educational and research needs of a major technical college for several years to come. There is another characteristic aspect of international co-operation which is more directly related to teaching and which we regard as highly original. We are frequently beset by difficulties of all kinds in the form of delays, faulty workmanship and other setbacks, in particular in setting up our laboratories, with the result that we sometimes find ourselves behind schedule with our courses. Engineers in training cannot wait, however. To give us time to complete the installation of our new equipment without losing a year, we have come to an interim agreement with the Belgian universities under which teaching for some of our fifth-year options is provided in Belgium whereas the final project is submitted to a panel of MCE teachers in Morocco, and the final degree awarded by the college. Although this compromise does not preserve the wholly national character of our course, it does guarantee the quality of our degree. We are provisionally renewing the arrangement again this year for the mechanical and electrical engineering options and for some of the mineral engineering options pending the completion of the laboratories that we expect will be operational next year.

The teaching staff No amount of material assistance will produce results without the backing of a hard-working, dedicated team of teachers. In this respect the

Morocco: the Mohammadia College of Engineering

MCE exemplifies the best and also, unfortunately, the worst. T h e best situation is one in which highly qualified teachers take an active part in college activities at all levels, instilling into the institution as a whole an international outlook and their own high standards. In this meltingpot of nationalities, Moroccans, Frenchmen, Romanians, Belgians and many others, all of them specialists profoundly dedicated to the service of education, epitomize international cooperation at its best, on a basis of reciprocity. As a result of their direct and forthright relationshiP with the teaching staff, the students share in this outward-looking atmosphere, which can be an appreciable factor in broadening the outlook of many of those who come from traditional family backgrounds or who have been less affected by the mass media than young people from more highly industrialized countries. The worst aspect is the high rate of staff turnover which is an inherent feature of such an international institution. Apart from a small permanent core of teachers, most of our experts spend no more than a few years at the college, and sometimes only one or two. Their departure invariably creates a gulf that is difficult to bridge, and replacing them always gives rise to the same readjustment problems. Newly appointed teachers do not necessarily share the same views, and the legacy of one teacher is frequently a burden for his successor. A typical ease in point is the arrival of expensive equipment after the departure of the person who ordered it, placing the responsibility for receiving and installing it on his successor, if there is one. Lack of coherent policy and much wastage of energy can be put down to the impermanence of our staff. This being so, the solution to our problem must be found in the appointment of Moroccans to as many key teaching posts as possible. Our proposed policy of'Moroccanization' applies more to our permanent teaching staff than to experts seconded by various outside bodies,

or to temporary personnel. Positive steps have been made in this direction: a greater awareness on the part of the public sectors, interest shown by Moroccan research workers. A number of teachers and lecturers have already been with us for some years. Several assistant lecturers were recruited in z975, some of whom are probationers and others fully qualified. As far as qualifications are concerned, new legislation on the status of university staff gives young Moroccan research workers every incentive and enables them to be employed as assistant lecturers and to play a useful teaching role. Further encouragement has been given in the way of much higher remuneration. The prospect for complete 'Moroccanization' of the MCE staff is further brightened by the provisions of the law on National Civilian Service (Service Civil), which makes available to the college a potential supply of qualified young Moroccans, who join the staff, admittedly on a temporary basis, but for at least as long as the time spent here by many of the teachers who come from abroad under foreign co-operation schemes. T h e new law on National Civilian Service provides for young university graduates to enter government service straight from university for a period of two years before embarkhag on their chosen career. This scheme provides the MCE with an important, if temporary, source of recruitment. An attempt has been made in these few pages to show that we are constantly concerned in our work at t h e / v i C E with planning for the future. Rather than living on the strength of past achievements and safeguarding them in the interest of smooth running, we are constantly striving towards a goal, at times with some measure of success, at others spurring on sectors that are lagging behind. The high standard of the college can be judged from the quality of the engineers we produce. We are often reproached, somewhat unthinkingly, with the small numbers of our 259

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graduates and our low 'output'. It may be recalled that until recently, the baccalaurdat in mathematics or science supplied us with barely seventy or eighty prospective entrants, an average of forty or fifty of whom qualified as engineers after the former four-year course. The proportion was not as low as all that, considering the exacting nature of a course of study whose standards were justifiably regarded as being higher than those of any other faculty in the Mohammad V University. Since the introduction of the new system, and including the students who are now in their

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final year of study, the record is as follows: in x974[75, twenty-nine engineers qualified; in z975/76, we have forty-seven students in the fifth year, forty-eight in the fourth and sixtyeight in the third. The enrolment in the first and second years, where the drop-out rate is highest, now stands at 26z students. It is on this note of increasing efficiencythat we shall conclude this comprehensive survey of our development. After fourteen years of unremitting efforts, we can say without self-congratulation, but not without a sense of pride, that in its specific field, the MCE has now got into its stride.