The labour market in the Maghreb is characterised by high youth unemployment and a low level of integration of women. The integration of young people is hampered by an economic development model that does not create enough jobs, combined with training that is not adapted to market needs and the lack of attractive jobs in the formal sector. To address these issues, higher education institutions in the region must improve future self-employment prospects for graduates, especially women. WEMag aims to help reduce the obstacles to entrepreneurship for young educated women in Tunisia and Morocco by providing them with entrepreneurial knowledge, experience and access to networks for business purposes. Using a design-thinking approach, it will create a new, common University Course on entrepreneurship designed for women, including project-oriented action learning, online learning and an internship allowing them to discover the first steps of budding companies. This course will improve the knowledge, skills and competences of female students and recent graduates in Tunisia and Morocco for employability and business creation after formal education. It will foster the entrepreneurial spirit of female students and help them build professional networks for business creation with key actors in their local startup ecosystems. Following the one-year course, students wishing to pursue will benefit from a personal coaching to launch their own companies. The project will also improve entrepreneurial pedagogy through a Teacher’s Training. This Teacher’s Training Component will be co-created with partner universities in the Maghreb and inspired by the service design methodology, in order to best respond to their context and needs. Given the appropriate tools and support, more female graduates will launch their own companies in Tunisia and Morocco, with a beneficial impact both on their employment prospects and the economy at large.

By supporting the ministerial strategic vision within the framework of the implementation of the Bachelor cycle, and the pedagogical renewal in adequacy with the needs of economic and social development of Morocco, the ICFALa project aims to set up Work-linked Training Centers at the level of the Moroccan Universities playing the role of interface between the establishments of higher education and the professional branches, favoring the approach by competence in Higher Education in the inter-professional fields, in adequacy with the needs of the business world

The extension of the responsibilities of universities recommended by the university reforms and the strategy ’Maroc Innovation’ in Morocco require the definition of a overarching tool combining the teaching of transversal competencies, research and innovation. The 3-year project INSITES coordinated by UH1 et having support from both the MESRSFC and MCINET will associate 17 partners from Morocco and EU member states. It aims at enhancing the university governance by institutionalizing the structures for innovation, knowledge transfer and valorisation of research. This should be approved by the CPU and the university councils. The results attended:- Assessment of the current situation of training methods for transversal competencies in Moroccan universities;- Summary of national strategies on innovation, valorisation and entrepreneurship;-Benchmarking of European experiences;- Competency references and guidelines for good management of the SITES;- Decisions of the Councils of Moroccan Universities on the approval of the setting up of the SITES and determining the chosen profiles based on the formerly approved references;- Training manual for specific transversal competencies in the Moroccan context in line with the European referencies;- Training sessions for training the trainers;- The SITES functions operationally at the Moroccan Universities;- Data base of trainers as resource persons for the generalization of experiences for all Moroccan universities;- National platform of the SITES serving as interface between institutional and economic actors;- Evaluation of the SITES;- A Communication and a Project QA Plan will be set up to ensure the quality, the dissemination and the sustainability of the project beyond its implementation period. A Charter of Good Conduct will be defined to ensure the involvement of all stakeholders and that the realization of activities of the project complies with the general rules and good project management principles.

This project whose main objective is to implement an audit and internal control service will allow universities to develop an efficient, simpler and flexible administration, closer to users and serving students who remain ultimately as the main purpose of the university. This project will result in improved governance of the university, the mastery of its internal operation and optimization of resources, in a context of massification and national austerity policies.The establishment of a system of control and internal audit is thus a challenge for Moroccan universities so as to be at the same level as European universities and to meet international norms and standards in management , governance and good management practices.o Objectives:The establishment of an internal audit service within the University will ensure compliance with the rules, administrative and financial procedures and optimizing the use of the information system.Through this project, the university aims to strengthen and develop its management capacity, governance and innovation in benefiting from the experience and expertise of the European partner universities by setting up a system that will allow for:1. To provide the university with an independent internal audit service to appreciate the accuracy and fairness of the physical and accounting operations, ensure the integrity of heritage, judge the effectiveness of the Information System and propose improvements;2. To develop a tool to control and efficiency audit the missions of the university and an effective internal control system combining international standards in terms of procedures and risk management;3. To develop the skills of the university staff through training and internships.

Internationalization in the MENA region is a quite complex undertaking and international mobility has become a key tool to improve the quality of Higher Education, thus addressing the regional need for a strong skills base to uphold economic and social development. Within this framework, Erasmus+ and its International Credit Mobility (ICM) Scheme have represented a challenge for MENA governments and HEIs, who have felt the need to share information and best practices to develop an innovative, effective and efficient management of ICM.ICMED, though the activities carried out in its 30 months of implementation and thanks to the effective involvement of its Partners, has contributed to building Partner countries’ HEIs capacity in the field of international relations, with a specific focus on E+ ICM, thus reinforcing EU partners cooperation in the region and improving the quality of mobility flows under KA107. More specifically, the project aimed at strengthening partner HEIs staff capacity to deal with ICM & International Mobility in general, through the implementation of a comprehensive Training Programme held in the region. First, a Consultation Process was carried out with the objective to map the status of ICM implementation at institutional and regional level. This included a desk research, interviews with academic and administrative staff, as well as National Erasmus+ Offices in Partner countries; and the development of a comprehensive Training Plan. Based on the results of the Consultation process, 3 training weeks were carried out on different themes, including “Effective cooperation between EU & Partner countries towards a successful application and Instruments and services for ICM”; “Recognition mechanisms and instruments within ICM; “Beyond ICM: developing of JD/DD programmes”. A comprehensive International Mobility Toolkit was then developed to support Partners in the institutional implementation of ICM. The Toolkit includes a set of templates to be used as daily guidelines and roadmap to implement and manage ICM and potentially any other international mobility scheme. The toolkit has served as a reference to HEIs staff in the region, as demonstrated during the final conference and Train-the-Trainers event. These outputs were widely disseminated and multiplied during the Train-the-Trainers event and the Final Conference.Four Policy Briefs addressing local authorities in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, as well as the EC, were also prepared with the aim to contribute to the discussion on the future generation of ICM programmes (E+ 2021-27/ national programmes) and shared with key stakeholders during the Final Conference and separate meetings. At local level, MENA HEIs have widely benefited from the project results as demonstrated by Partners feedback and new actions undertaken (see other sections of the Report for further information), exploiting achieved skills and establishing new privileged cooperation forms with EU and other African HEIs; at national & EU level, local NEOs were stimulated to reflect on ICM management and implementation as well as on its potential revision and restructuring in the MENA region, with a special attention to digital innovation, blended mobility and virtual exchange.