The Moroccan Equation Elite prep, scientific training, and strategic reach
In We, his dystopian novel published a century ago, Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin satirised a society governed by mathematical absolutism—a not-so-veiled critique of the Communist order taking shape in post- revolutionary Russia. Today, mathematics has lost none of its abstract power, but its application has shifted. No longer an instrument of ideological rigidity, it has found new purpose on the southern shores of the Mediterranean.
In the 21st century, Morocco has become a training ground for top-tier mathematical talent. On June 16th, 2025, when the results of France’s elite higher education entrance exams were released, the kingdom had reason to roar. Its students once again excelled in France’s most prestigious engineering schools. Among them : Polytechnique, Centrale, and Les Ponts. This success is no accident. It rests on three institutional pillars: a well-structured academic ecosystem, a dense web of diplomatic academic agreements, and deliberate political investment in human capital.
A quietly influential academic diaspora
Moroccan students now form the largest foreign student group in France, with 45,162 enrolled in the 2022–2023 academic year. To put this in perspective: France had 2.94 million higher education students in total, including 412,000 international students. One in every seven international students is Moroccan. In just five years, this cohort has grown by 13%, surpassing the Chinese, Algerian, Italian, Senegalese, and Tunisian contingents.
The trend is particularly visible in engineering schools, where 21% of foreign students are Moroccan, compared to 9% from China. At École Polytechnique, France’s flagship school of scientific excellence, 29 Moroccan students were admitted in 2024 out of 140 international slots. Business schools show similar patterns : 8,058 Moroccan students in 2023, second only to China.
Engineering excellence—by design
Such performances are not the result of chance. Morocco has built an elite preparatory system (classes préparatoires) to funnel its best students into France’s grandes écoles. The country has 19 such institutions, mostly public and highly selective. Their curricula—maths, physics, biology— are aligned with French entrance exams. A standout case : Lydex High School in Benguerir, located in the Mohammed VI green city, sent eleven students to Polytechnique in 2021—more than some top Parisian schools. Behind these results lies a quiet strategy of academic diplomacy : over 300 active agreements connect Moroccan and French institutions, allowing Moroccan students to sit the same entrance exams as their French peers.
Elite channels alone do not sustain a national strategy. Morocco’s public education system, for years fragile, showed signs of distress in the 2023 PISA rankings. The government responded not with minor adjustments but with a bold pedagogical overhaul. Enter TARL (Teaching at the Right Level)—a model pioneered by an Indian NGO and tested across sub-Saharan Africa. The approach is simple: group students by learning level rather than age, and reinforce the basics before moving on.
Within two months of trialling TARL in 600 Moroccan schools, math mastery rates quadrupled; French tripled; Arabic doubled. The programme is now being scaled nationally, with an aim to reach millions of pupils within four years.
Investing in minds—and the minds behind them
At the higher education level, the government is also betting on long-term institutional vision. The University of Mohammed V (UM5) in Rabat, a post-independence institution, now boasts 19 research centres and a national reference hub for mathematics. UM6P, launched by the OCP Group in 2013, is taking a more entrepreneurial approach—connecting academic work to sustainable development and industrial strategy.
The state has aligned these institutions under the 2025–2028 PNARDI programme, designed to synchronise academic research with national priorities such as energy sovereignty, digital transformation and sustainability. And while bricks and servers matter, so do people. A historic pay increase of 30–40% for public school teachers, backed by an 821 million euro investment, was announced to strengthen the ranks of those shaping Morocco’s next generation of thinkers.
Alumni in power : when math graduates lead
This intellectual momentum is already visible at the highest levels of Moroccan society. The Moroccan alumni network of École Polytechnique counts nearly 300 members, many of whom occupy key roles in government, finance, and industry. Among them : Mohamed Kabbaj, senior civil servant; Ismail Douiri, CEO of Attijariwafa Bank; and Driss Benhima, former CEO of Royal Air Maroc.
These trajectories—diverse but originating from the same academic point—make one thing clear : a Moroccan scientific diploma is more than a credential; it is a launchpad into influence, innovation, and governance. In short : Q.E.D.
Sources :
Challenges : Morocco, the factory of math prodigies
Le Monde : Morocco aims to bring public school students back up to speed
Le 360 : Moroccan students abroad—strong presence in France’s top engineering schools
Le 360 : Moroccan students: the stars of elite French entrance exams, according to Le Figaro
Parcours d’Étudiants : Moroccans: the leading foreign student community in France
École Polytechnique (official website) : Engineering cycle admissions – entrance exam pathways
Wikipedia : Mohammed V University of Rabat
