The 4th session of the Strategic Dialogue between Morocco and the United Kingdom further demonstrated "the strength and depth" of the bilateral relationship, UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) said Monday.
This dialogue, held last week in Rabat, under the chairmanship of the British Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, the UN, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, focused on culture, education, politics, economics and security and further demonstrated the strength and depth of bilateral relations, the FCDO said in a statement.
The day after the Strategic Dialogue, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and the Moroccan Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, Abdellatif Miraoui, presided over the 5th meeting of the UK-Morocco Higher Education Commission at the the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office in London, the same source added.
The meeting brought together representatives from the Moroccan government, the British Council, the UK’s Department for Business and Trade, the UK Quality Assurance Agency, Universities UK International, Morocco’s National Agency for Evaluation and Quality Assurance of Higher Education and Scientific Research (ANEAQ), as well as several UK and Moroccan universities.
The meeting served to advance higher education collaboration between Morocco and the United Kingdom, in particular English learning and assessment, transnational education and scientific research, said the FCDO, adding, in this sense, that a memorandum of understanding was signed between the British Council in Morocco and Morocco’s Ministry of Higher Education.
This agreement aims to increase the uptake of English language assessment in Moroccan public universities, paving the way for future partnerships with other UK institutions in the field of student assessments, the ministry said.
The meeting also discussed bilateral successes, including the institutional partnership between Keele University and the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education, collaboration on quality of higher education offerings, and climate research partnerships between University College London and Ibn Tofail University in Kenitra, the statement added.
Established in 2019, the Higher Education Commission meets annually, as well as in quarterly sub-groups, to strengthen ties in the areas of higher education, scientific research, quality assurance and transnational education.
