Moroccan PhD students spend summer semester in Israeli university

Moroccan PhD students spend summer semester in Israeli university
Since the signing of the Abraham Accords, Israeli and Moroccan officials have bolstered relations despite growing anti-normalisation feelings in the kingdom. 
2 min read
31 August, 2022
The Moroccan students are enrolled in the university's data science and health system programs. [Getty]

Morocco's Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and Israel's Ben-Gurion University have launched the first PhD exchange program between Tel Aviv and Rabat, two years after normalising ties in December 2020.

Four Moroccan PhD students are spending this summer semester at the Negev university of Ben-Gurion in the first-of-its-kind cooperation between an Israeli and a Moroccan university

The Moroccan students are enrolled in the university's data science and health system programs.

In an interview with the Medialine, a Middle East-focused news outlet, Ilham Zargan, a member of the Moroccan delegation to Ben-Gurion, cherished the experiences she endured in the Israeli university despite future problems "she might face due to her studies in Israel."

"I might not be able to enter Tunisia for research in the future, but it is a matter of priorities which I made," she said.

Tunisia, like many Arab states, ban the entry of the holders of passports with Israeli stamps.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Israeli students from Ben-Gurion University arrived in June in Rabat as a part of the new Moroccan-Israeli academia collaboration.

The National Action Group for Palestine and the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalisation have accused the Israeli delegation of "infiltrating the Moroccan campus to advertise the Zionist agenda."

Morocco's ministry of education has not reacted to the criticism.

In February 2021, Saaïd Amzazi, then Morocco's Minister of Education, had agreed with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Galant to "exchange student delegations and organise study trips in Israel and Morocco."

In June this year, Morocco and Israel strengthened their collaboration with a memorandum of understanding in the fields of innovation, scientific research and technology.

Since the signing of the Abraham Accords, Israeli and Moroccan officials have bolstered relations despite growing anti-normalisation feelings in the Kingdom. 

So far, more than six Israeli officials and ministers have visited Rabat to discuss further cooperation with the North African kingdom.

Trade between Morocco and Israel almost doubled between 2020 and 2021, growing from $US70 million to $US130 million.