News

The promotional caravan of Erasmus Plus and capacity building in Morocco is a two weeks caravan to visit 11 High Education Institutions covering major remote cities of Morocco. This promotional caravan was the first of its kind in Morocco. The strength of the group lies in their own experiences with EMA, in the partnership with National Erasmus Plus Office in Rabat (NEO Morocco), and particularly in the long experience of ESN in structuring, organizing, and enhancing Erasmus students' capacity across Europe. Each partner played a crucial role to make this project a success and to ensure its sustainability as well. The caravan was structured in two parallel workshops, one for students, codirected by EMA and ESN, and the second workshop was for university teachers and staff directed by NEO Morocco.

The main objective is to enhance the visibility of Erasmus+ opportunities and increase the number of Moroccan students benefiting from it. The specific goals include to help establishing local communities at university level with the aim to promote Erasmus Plus opportunities and to sustain the visibility around the year. These communities will be coordinated by EMA local ambassadors.

The global results include visiting 11 High Education institutions in Morocco: The caravan was inaugurated in Tetouan with a short meeting with the President of Abdelamlek Essaadi University. It was followed by the second stop in the school of engineering (ENSA-H) of Al Hociema and the third stop at ENCG Oujda. Then the caravan went on to EST of Beni Mellale, to FST of Errachidia, to FS of Marrakesh, to ENCG of Agadir, to FP of Safi, to ENCG of El Jadida and to EST Casablanca. Finally, they ended their tour with the closing ceremony at presidency of Mohamed V University in Rabat.

The project reached more than 2000 Moroccan university students, including African and middle East students who are pursuing their study in Morocco. Furthermore, EMA, ESN, and ESAA gained a large visibility within HEI ground roots, and there is a noticeable increase in awareness of the Erasmus+ programme and international cooperation. This project meets two main ESAA clusters: Cluster 2 of Spreading Erasmus+ and Widening Participation and Cluster 4 of Capacity Building.

Overall, Erasmus+ Caravan fulfils the following outcomes:

• visiting 11 High Education Institutions across Morocco,
• Benefits for more than 2000 prospective students and university staff for Erasmus+ opportunities,
• Establishing local EMA and ESN communities in these 11 HEI (TBC),
• Sustaining synchronized EMA and ESN events across Morocco,
• And most importantly, this project brings Erasmus+ opportunities to the right candidates in remote regions of Morocco

Acknowledgement: A deep thank you goes to ESAA for the opportunity, to the EMA, ESN and to NEO Morocco, to the EU delegation in Rabat, and to everyone else who supported this project and to the presidents and staff of the visited universities in Morocco.