Rabat — Morocco and the European Union (EU) signed, here Wednesday, a 490 million dirham program to support Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Mobility.

Inked by the Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, Abdellatif Miraoui, and the EU's Ambassador to Morocco, Patricia Llombart Cussac, this program supports the National Plan for Accelerating the Transformation of the Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation Ecosystem (ESRI 2030 Pact), in order to help Moroccan universities strengthen and internationalize higher education, research and innovation.

The Program also aims to promote the mobility of doctoral students in European universities through a grant of 50.42 million dirhams, with the aim of continuing to forge human, academic and scientific links between Moroccans and Europeans.

Speaking on the occasion, Miraoui underlined "the exemplary cooperation between Morocco and the EU in the field of higher education," noting that under the enlightened vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, strengthening human capital is at the heart of Morocco's national priorities and an essential lever for its international influence.

For her part, Cussac said that "the European Union supports Morocco's efforts, as it has embarked on an ambitious national plan to make higher education more international and to develop research and innovation, by offering students, graduates, researchers and teachers mobility opportunities for their doctorates, as well as supporting the government's ambitions in implementing the ESRI 2030 PACT."