The Moroccan Higher Education (HE) sector is facing significant change as it moves to enhance accessibility and quality for students, and impact for its economy and society. The reform and restructuring of the HE system in Morocco needed to deliver on these objectives is being slowed by a lack of leadership capacity. Universities in Morocco need to build the capacity of their leaders for governance, strategic planning and management in order to deliver these reforms.The project addresses the need for development for university leaders in Morocco through the creation and implementation of a National Centre for Leadership Development (NLDC) and an associated certificated national leadership development programme (NLDP). When creating the NLDC and its NLDP, it will create the constitution and operating procedures for the centre; structures and materials to support the programme; and identify and equip dedicated facilities where the development activities will take place. Learning will take place through networking meetings, lectures from visiting speakers, action learning sets, and promote immediate improvements through national change projects. The project will develop and execute staff training workshops for Moroccan university staff responsible for establishing the new centre and implementing the programme.During the life of the project, 132 Moroccan HE leaders and managers will engage with the NLDC and benefit from the NLDP with a demonstrable impact on their capacity to operate the governance, strategic plans and management of HEIs. In the year following the project, it is expected that additional leaders will benefit from taking the NLDP and that at least 10 additional Moroccan HEIs will have adopted it for leadership development. All HEIs in Morocco will engage with the NLDC for leadership development through activities including a leadership conference. Together these actions will enhance the capacity for reform nationally.

Food and energy security, climate change, rising prices, empowerment of producers, and the fight against poverty has forced African countries to review their agricultural strategy to upgrade and modernize the sector. In Morocco, agriculture is responsible for 33% of the employment and contributes close to 13% of GDP. Agri-production has also seen increasingly high added value crops such as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. In other countries such as South Africa, production is also expected to grow significantly in the coming years, showing great economic prospects in the sector. However, the growth of the agricultural sector combined with climate change exerts stress on water resources. 80-95% of water resources are used in agriculture of which 40% comes from groundwater. With an annual groundwater extraction rate of 4226 million cubic meters (MCM) and a renewal potential of 3404 MCM, Moroccan farmers are already witnessing a significant deficit, which will worsen in the near future. It is therefore critical for the agricultural sector to become more resilient and sustainable. This can be achieved by increasing efficiency in water management by using micro-irrigation systems, setting up water collection and using partial shading to reduce evapotranspiration. On the energy side, Morocco has no hydrocarbon reserves and is highly energy dependent. The growth of electricity demand is more than 4% a year. The power sector is the primary driver of CO2 emissions (39%) along with agriculture (5%). However, the kingdom has a very high renewable energy potential not yet exploited. In the Water-Energy-Food nexus, agrivoltaic (APV) systems, a combination of PV and agriculture on the same land, appears to be a very attractive solution to address these challenges with a strong synergy between the three following aspects. On the food level, it provides excellent plant protection against heat by providing partial shading. On the water side, the APV system helps to reduce water consumption by reducing evapotranspiration [8]. Also, the installation can be used to collect rainwater which can be filtered and used for drip irrigation. Finally, on the energy side, the electricity produced with the APV system can be used to power irrigation and desalination systems. The energy produced can be self-consumed by the agri-company for post-harvest processes such as food packaging, cold storage and transformation. It can also be reinjected into the grid. Due to the severe electricity shortage in South Africa, many farmers are considering PV panels. Local Independent Power Suppliers (IPP) claim that with the favorable climate in South Africa, the LCOE of electricity is below the purchase price of electricity from Eskom. The additional benefits of agricultural activities in shaded areas, such as water conservation and increased crop quality are becoming bonus attributes that can improve the financial viability of the farm and food security for the country. In this project, the benefit of APV will be assessed in the context of agriculture in arid regions, with emphasis on the synergy between the Water-Energy-Food nexus. A first part of the project will be focused on better understanding and demonstrating how APV can help the booming berry industry in Morocco and South Africa to become more sustainable and resilient. A second part of the project will be focused on assessing how APV can be deployed at a larger scale for fruit and vegetable production across African countries. The project will follow a participative approach where all stakeholders will be involved in the various phases of the project implementation, including governmental agencies concerned with water-food-energy, the private sector and farmers. The outcomes of the project will be transferred to these parties through awareness raising, capacity building, dissemination activities and training materials that will be regularly scheduled throughout the project.

In order to improve the valorization of the benefits of training and experience in Moroccan universities, promote orientation, mobility and training throughout life and enable companies to have visibility of the laureates’ skills, the project proposes to implement an e-portfolio approach and an e-VAL platform within the Moroccan partner universities. The project starts from the observation of the lack of an intelligent interface allowing the student to capitalize his experiences and cultivate his digital identity, the governance of the university to develop its digital visibility and businesses to better read the skills at the source.We will proceed to an investigation in the Moroccan partner universities, which will enable us to highlight the real needs and expectations. We will then schedule trainings presenting the European partners’ good practices in the field in additions to transfers of expertise, skills and personnel training within the Moroccan partner universities. This pedagogical approach will be supported by actions aimed at professional recognition both by the universities and by the socio-economic community.The e-VAL platform designed through an approach in network technology will be developed by mixed teams, implemented and then evaluated. This technical device integrated into the partner universities’ information system will have to guarantee the consistency and comprehensiveness of the e-portfolio approach in line with the needs of the Moroccan socio-economic fabric.The bulk of the action will focus on awareness-raising, training in the importance e-portfolio approach, conception then experimentation with e-VAL platform. Once stabilized at the end of the project, the platform will be evaluated and submitted for recognition by the supervising ministry, guarantee of the continuity of e-VAL project actions.

Higher education (HE) in Morocco is regulated by statute with the state, through the Ministry, responsible for the planning, organisation, development, regulation and guidance of the system. Moroccan HE has been undergoing a process of reform for some years with recent publications indicating a rising awareness of the need to accelerate those that are more closely linked to the needs of the country, it students and its employers. A significant step was taken in 2014 with Law no 80-12 setting out the establishment of the Agence National d’Evaluation et d’Assurance Qualité de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche scientifique (ANEAQ). The ANEAQ will be taking a leading role in the implementation of the activities. The project will address a national priority by bringing together leading actors, experienced in the latest developments in national (and international) QA systems for HE, with the Moroccan authorities and universities. The Project will guide the development of a QA ‘tool kit’ to support policies and procedures relevant to Morocco. Amongst the deliverables, the project will establish a Code of Practice for the Management of QA, which will be used by the universities and by the Agency in its evaluations of the effectiveness and efficiency of university Quality Assurance systems. The project will play a major role in more closely aligning Moroccan HE with some of the most successful aspects of the European Bologna Process and thus contribute to enhancing recognition, mobility and internationalisation.

The Euro-African Network of Excellence for Innovation and Entrepreneurship - INSTART – aims at improving the knowledge triangle by promoting an effective Innovation culture in Higher Education, and starting up Innovative modes of association and interaction between Universities, Businesses and Society in order to enhance the socio-economic environment across the South Mediterranean Region (MED).The Consortium is composed of 4 Universities, and one Scientific and Technological Park from EU countries - Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland- and 12 Universities from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia with support from social partners as Chambers of Commerce, Clusters, Networks and Associations from these MED countries. Making university’s activities more visible and accessible to companies and other stakeholders is important to contribute to economic growth by combining their collective knowledge and skills. The INSTART project develops innovative mechanisms to promote University Excellence in Innovation and Entrepreneurship and to increase University-business cooperation through the Mediterranean. To catch up on knowledge production, INSTART will implement the training Transversal Accelerator Program with innovative learning tools for different targets groups (professors, technical, graduates, postgraduates), focuses on new skills in Innovation and Entrepreneurship having a transversal impact on interesting disciplines for the Region (as Agriculture, Economics, Education and Engineering). In order to improve the capacities, create and reinforce structures of Innovation at the MED Universities, the project will develop a training Program including a visit period in Europe, and thus starting a best practice transfer Systems for long-term cooperation between MED-EU Universities. INSTART project is designed to encourage Mediterranean Higher Education Institutions to become a referent for innovation and entrepreneurship in the labour market and society as a whole.