Morocco is experiencing an increase in applications for access to vocational training

Interest in vocational training has increased considerably this year in Morocco, reaching a national demand rate of around 435%, according to figures provided by the Director General of the Office of Training and Promotion of Vocational Training of Labour (OFPPT), Loubna Tricha.

During a press conference held at the Cité des Métiers et des Qualifications in Tamesna on the occasion of the start of the training year 2023-2024, Tricha stressed that this increase involves all branches and levels of vocational training and that this rate is equivalent to 4 applications for 1 educational place and 7 applications for a place at the specialised technical level.

The sector that has received the most applications is health care, reaching up to 130 applications for an educational place. Other areas of high demand are artificial intelligence, hospitality, business management and business management. The overall intake capacity of the OFPPT is 4,100,000 educational places, of which 262,000 educational places are reserved for first-year students.

According to Tricha, this training year will be marked by the reinforcement of the training system with the opening of 13 new establishments in six regions covering different subjects. Regarding the training offer, the director of the OFPPT stressed that it corresponds to the needs of companies, indicating that 74% of the sectors offered correspond to newly created sectors, which will benefit 68% of the trainees.  

It was also announced that the OFPPT will implement two programmes of excellence in vocational training with EHL (Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne) this year and that it will extend the Entrepreneurial Innovation Programme (EIP) to more territories in the country to give access to more young people throughout Morocco.

The EIP was developed jointly with the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and aims to strengthen entrepreneurship among young people by equipping them with the necessary entrepreneurial skills. It will be implemented in the Casablanca-Settat region, in addition to six other regions.

As for VT training with the collaboration of EHL related to the tourism sector, and following the great success recorded during its experimentation in 2021-2022 in the institutes specialised in tourism professions of Hank-Casablanca and Guich Loudaya-Rabat, it will also be implemented in the regions of Souss-Massa, Rabat-Salé-Kénitra and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, in addition to the ISTHT Dakhla. 

Based on Swiss expertise in vocational training in the field of tourism, hotel and catering, these training courses of excellence are set across three levels, covering culinary arts, food and beverage services, accommodation management and hotel administration. These courses also feature co-branded training certificates from OFPPT and Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne.

The OFPPT will also maintain the cross-border e-commerce programme, launched in 2021 at ISTA Hay Hassani in Casablanca, in partnership with the Tianjin School of Commerce, and will offer Chinese language training sessions this year in order to meet the strong interest shown by young people and diversify its language offer.