Celebrating a new generation of young people with a Euro-Mediterranean profile: Graduation of the first masters’ students from the Euromed University of Fes

• Eighty-one graduate students recently became the first to earn a Master’s degree from the Euromed University of Fes, one of the flagship projects of the Union for the Mediterranean.
• This first graduation ceremony, attended by an array of European and Moroccan political figures, marks an important milestone for the University.

Fes, 15 June 2019 – The Euromed University of Fes celebrated a new generation of young Euro-Mediterranean leaders during its first graduation ceremony of Masters programmes.  The awards, which were handed out in a high-profile ceremony attended by 600 participants, marked a major milestone for the University which received the official support of the 43 Member states of the UfM in June 2012.

« This university serves as a link between Europe and the Mediterranean but also as a bridge to the African continent”, declared Claudia Widey, EU Ambassador to Morocco and Head of the EU Delegation in Rabat. “Since 2016, the European Union has been committed to support the Euromed University of Fes, a flagship initiative of the Union for the Mediterranean, which contributes to regional integration and stability”, she added.

Prof. Mostapha Bousmina, UEMF president, paid tribute to the members of the executive board and to the staff of the university “who have been working tirelessly and with dedication to make this project a tangible reality. Beyond the buildings and all what we have achieved altogether in such a short period of time, we are now reaping the initial results with the University’s first laureates who have been trained in view to impact their environment in the best possible way”. “Just four years ago, there were only wheat fields here instead of this beautiful patio where we are gathered today,” President Bousmina remarked.

Overall, 81 students have completed the first edition of Master’s courses in Renewable energies and Energy efficiency, in Environmental engineering and Water management and in Management and enhancement of Euro-Mediterranean tourism heritage. “I still remember the first day when I came to the university in search for information” commented Rhita Benmouss, the laureates’ representative. “Three years after, I am representing the essence of the UEMF profile: I am multilingual and multicultural in addition to being equipped with eco-citizenship and social responsibility skills. But above all, I have developed strong bonds of friendships that will last forever. I leave the University with a new family”.

The UEMF is a pioneering regional academic institution that seeks to provide a platform of intercultural dialogue, exchange and cooperation between the two shores of the Mediterranean. This intramural university offers high standard multi-dimensional curricula in Engineering and Architecture and in Humanities & Social Sciences, complemented in both cases by cross-cutting classes on Euro-Mediterranean history, civilizations, heritage and languages along with transversal courses in information technologies and entrepreneurship.

Over 40 training programmes are already delivered, both at initial and continuing education, at the three university levels (bachelor, master, doctorate), in close partnership with well-known higher education institutions from Euro-Mediterranean countries with the view to deliver double degrees.

President Bousmina has announced during the graduation ceremony that the UEMF will open in September 2019 a new class of engineering school fully devoted to artificial intelligence, the first of its kind in the Euro-Mediterranean and African regions.

UEMF Key Figures

• 7,000students from across the Euro-Mediterranean region and Sub-Saharan Africa in 2024.
• 650 highly qualified professors, researchers, administrative and technical personnel.
• 80%of students participating in mobility experiences abroad.
• 20%of students granted with full or partial scholarships.
• 26ha eco-friendly and world-class campus.

Euromed University of Fes (Université Euromed de Fès, UEMF) stands as a new centre of excellence contributing to regional stability and integration through the promotion of dialogue, intercultural exchange, sharing of knowledge and cooperation in the fields of higher education, research and innovation.

Links of interest:

http://www.ueuromed.org/pro/fr/