Insider Media
Jon Robinson
Senior Digital Staff Writer
A deal has been signed to establish a £14m purpose-built campus in Morocco to house new Coventry University courses.
The university has agreed a memorandum of understanding with Morocco’s Superior Institution of Science & Technology (SIST).
The partnership will provide teacher training and other programmes in areas such as business and science and technology.
Prof John Latham, vice-chancellor of Coventry University, and Dr Tariq Obaid, president of SIST, signed the MoU during a reception at the inaugural meeting of the UK-Morocco Higher Education Commission.
SIST, a higher education institute which operates entirely in English in Morocco, will invest £14m to develop a purpose-built campus in Casablanca to host Coventry University’s programmes.
The agreement will also enable the partners to explore opportunities for joint research, teaching and mobility to and from Coventry University’s UK campuses for its Moroccan staff and students.
Prof Latham said: “I’m delighted that we have hosted the UK-Morocco Higher Education Commission’s first meeting, which looked at strengthening links between Morocco and the UK’s higher education sectors.
“I’m particularly pleased because we have become the first UK university to sign an agreement to set up a campus in Morocco.
“Our partnership with SIST will give us our first strong relationship with a Moroccan institution, particularly around science and technology and teacher training.
“We’re also looking at partnerships in nurse training and nurse education and exploring links around research, especially water security and food security.
“We see Morocco as a gateway to Africa and a country where higher education in the UK overall could have more and further collaborations.”
