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Assad, Redouane

• Administrator and Chief
• Following up University Graduates’ Integration Office
• Department of Higher Education, Training, and Scientific Research
• Ministry of National Education
• Morocco

Redouane Assad is currently Chief of the “Following up University Graduates” Integration Office within the Moroccan Department of Higher Education, Training, and Scientific Research. His principal tasks are:

(1) Studying situation of students after graduation (preparation of methodology and questionnaires, and executing surveys);
(2) Use statistical data analysis software to analyze mass data of higher education;
(3) Apply principals of finance, economic and econometrics to higher education projects;
(4) Reforming Moroccan University Student Aid System” (costs sharing, student loan Options,…) and
(5) Working on issues of higher education quality. Dr. Assad’s research interests include; Economics of education, Econometrics and Physics.

Prior to his current position he was a Project Manager in the Department of Higher Education, Training, and Scientific Research responsible for ‘‘Projects and Requests services”.

Current Memberships: Society of Economics of Education-New York, USA; African Studies Working Group -New York, USA; Education and Training Association-Morocco; Physics Association-Morocco.

Select Publications

• University education in Morocco during the period 1980-2004: beyond numbers. R ASSAD and N. E. Mustaphi. Repères et perspectives (2005), Vol 7, pp 103-124.
• Educational Production Functions: an Application to a Primary School. R ASSAD, M. N. Mustaphi & S. Mishner, Accepted definitely for publication in “Repères et perspectives”, (accepted and will be published into Vol 10, December 2006).
• Financing higher education system in Morocco: evaluation and perspective. R ASSAD, Submitted for publication (preliminary acceptation, 2006).

Introducing Cost Sharing and Ensuring Equitable Access in an International Comparative Perspective: Application to Moroccan Higher Education

Opportunities for higher education are not as widely available and accessible in Morocco as they are in most other countries, including the rest of North Africa and the Middle East. However, the higher education system in Morocco has witnessed a modest and limited expansion during the last twenty-five years, with the gross enrolment ratio increasing from 6% in 1980 to 10% in 1990, and reaching 12,2% in 2005. Yet, the system continues to suffer from inequitable accessibility (lower SES students, students from rural and isolated areas are less represented in the higher education system). During the past few decades, the analysis of the public higher education system in Morocco showed that the system is suffering from a serious financial crisis, with a dependence on limited public resources. The results of this situation are reflected in overcrowded facilities, an imperative need for quality improvement (diversification of higher education programs and students’ skill profiles), and the incessant decline of the public expenditures on university education, as a percentage of the total expenditures on education. The higher education financial crisis, which is a global one and the most important world-wide trend, has been handled by:

(1) the reduction of government’s effort for supporting students’ social affairs, which may deepen the inequity; and
(2) the continuous decline of the capital outlay. This critical situation will be aggravated in the short run because of the important expected qualitative and quantitative demand.

To overcome this challenge, the government is considering the possibility of introducing tuition fees, and decreasing students’ subsidies (lodging, food, and scholarships). This idea is founded on the premise that higher education is tied to both public and private welfare, and that the cost sharing process will also conquer the social equity. However, due to the aim of increasing participation rates, the marginal student should be more likely to come from a low SES and/or rural family than the average student when the participation rates were much lower. Thus, the introduction of cost sharing process, without implementing an adequate students’ aide system and student loans that should be inspired from the economic, religion, and cultural contexts of Morocco, will add more barriers for higher education access to these under represented groups.