A Euro-Mediterranean generation in the making: Kamilia’s journey
How Euro-Mediterranean universities labelled by the Union for the Mediterranean help shape young people with a shared vision for the region
Born and raised in Rabat, on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, Kamilia grew up in an environment where Mediterranean identity was not an abstract notion, but a lived reality. In her family, languages, cultures and openness to others were an integral part of education. Learning Spanish from an early age was a given. This familiarity with otherness, combined with a strong sense of belonging to a shared space, gradually shaped her worldview and guided her academic choices.
Her interest in international relations did not develop overnight. It was strengthened through concrete experiences, notably during an academic mobility period in France. There, she attended a training programme organised by a Mediterranean foundation for strategic studies in Toulon, Europe’s largest military port. “This place perfectly symbolised the security and strategic challenges of the Mediterranean,” she explains. This immersion, experienced during her final undergraduate year, marked a decisive turning point and confirmed her desire to specialise in Euro-Mediterranean dynamics.
Choosing the Euro-Mediterranean University of Fes naturally followed. Kamilia began her studies there at undergraduate level before enrolling in a master’s programme dedicated to Mediterranean and African policies, a unique offering in Morocco. Beyond academic excellence, it was the university’s identity that convinced her. “I found there the Mediterranean values my parents had passed on to me,” she notes. Multilingualism, cultural diversity and a strong Euro-Mediterranean focus are reflected in concrete ways, including the compulsory teaching of Spanish as a second foreign language.
Campus life played a central role in her personal and intellectual development. With more than forty nationalities represented among its students, UEMF offers a particularly rich intercultural environment. Kamilia founded a club dedicated to student integration and intercultural dialogue, offering language courses and organising multicultural events. One such event, initially conceived as a small end-of-year celebration, gradually became a university tradition. “It reflects the commitment of the teaching staff to ensuring that international students feel at home, even when far from their own country,” she explains.
Her openness to the world was further strengthened during a summer school at the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI) in Slovenia, focusing on Mediterranean lifestyles and connections. For ten days, students from across the Mediterranean basin shared the same living space. What struck her most was the strength of South–South dialogue, the discovery of shared traditions and a culture of hospitality that gave rise to a genuine sense of fraternity among young people from Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Jordan.
These experiences nurtured a deep sense of empathy and a nuanced understanding of Mediterranean realities. For Kamilia, living alongside others is essential to overcoming stereotypes. She recalls sharing accommodation with a student from Guinea-Bissau, an experience that allowed her to discover a new culture and learn some Portuguese. “These are memories that stay with you and shape your identity over time,” she reflects.
Encouraged by close and attentive academic supervision, she chose to pursue a PhD, further deepening her research on the Mediterranean. This journey later led her to join the Union for the Mediterranean as an intern, a step that represents both continuity and a new phase. The experience has enabled her to better understand regional cooperation mechanisms and to connect academic research with concrete action.
After completing her doctorate, Kamilia hopes to contribute to bringing the two shores of the Mediterranean closer together and to work towards a more resilient and inclusive region. Her message to younger generations is clear: the Mediterranean cannot be understood through books alone. It must be lived, experienced and questioned on a daily basis. Learning languages, opening up to different cultures and maintaining a critical mindset are, in her view, essential to shaping the future of a space that, rather than dividing, brings people together.
The Euro-Mediterranean University of Fes (UEMF) and the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI) are among the higher education institutions labelled by the Union for the Mediterranean. Through this label, the UfM has contributed to the creation of academic institutions that actively promote intercultural dialogue, Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and the training of new generations with a distinctive Euro-Mediterranean vision, committed to the future of the region.
