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Science and technology in Morocco has significantly developed in recent years. The Moroccan government has been implementing reforms to encourage scientific research in the Kingdom. While research has yet to acquire the status of a national priority in Morocco, the country does have major assets that could transform its R&D sector into a key vehicle for development. The industry remains dominated by the public sector, with the universities employing 58% of researchers. Morocco’s own evaluation of its national research system – carried out in 2003 – revealed that the country has a good supply of well trained high quality human resources and that some laboratories are of very high quality.〔http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/files/55536/11998897825Morocco.pdf/Morocco.pdf〕 However, the greatest gap at that point of time lied in the link between research and innovation. The educational qualifications of Moroccan researchers have increased significantly since the early 1990s.〔http://www.asti.cgiar.org/pdf/MOROCCO_CB27.pdf〕 The University of Al-Karaouine is considered the oldest continuously operating academic degree-granting university in the world, by the Guinness Book of Records.〔''The Guinness Book Of Records'', Published 1998, ISBN 0-553-57895-2, P.242〕 ==National policy== The national system of scientific and technical research in Morocco is guided by different elements, such as the pronouncements of the king, reports of special commissions, five-year plans, and the creation of a special programme for the support of research. While spending on education has hitherto been relatively high (5% of GDP and 24% of government expenditures in recent years〔http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/weekly01.asp?id=4695#english〕), change has been slow in coming. A royally designated "decade of education" was kicked off in Morocco in 1999 with the publishing of the National Charter for Education and Training, a road map to sector reform. As a result, literacy for men aged 15–24 has risen from 84% in 1990 to 87% in 2008, according to the World Bank, while the percentage of all students completing primary school rose from 82% to 87% over the same period. The Moroccan government’s Five- Year Plan for 2000-2004 articulated the priority lines for research. The declared objectives of this plan were to align S&T research with socio-economic development priorities.〔 Sectors declared as priority areas were: agriculture, fisheries, drinking water, geology, mining, energy, environment, information and telecommunications technologies, and transport.〔 This approach highlighted the need for effective institutional coordination, which enabled different parties to work together around common priority socioeconomic objectives. In 2002, 89% of the 542 researchers in a sample comprising INRA, INRH, IAV Hassan II, ENFI, and ENA were trained to the postgraduate level, and 34% held doctorate degrees.〔 In 2009 Morocco has announced new support for scientific research including strengthening scientific infrastructure and giving universities more power.〔(Morocco to boost investment in science - SciDev.Net )〕 As part of the National Education Emergency Support Programme 2009-12, the Moroccan government has signed DH12.6bn (€1.1bn) in new agreements to improve the quality of its universities.〔http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/weekly01.asp?id=4695〕〔(Education Reform )〕 This extra investment comes as the number of students in the science and engineering fields is expected to double by 2012, along with the number of those passing the baccalaureate exam after high school, additionally the country seeks to meet its UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The project will range from hiring additional lecturers and raising teaching credentials to expanding general infrastructure. The government has targeted accrediting 92% of its universities as research institutions by 2012, compared to 69% in 2008.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Science and technology in Morocco」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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