Paper short abstract:

This paper demonstrates that Malian scholarship holders mainly leave their country for Morocco to escape from the lack of quality in the education system and attend Moroccan public schools. While self-funded rich students go abroad as an act of social distinction and mostly attend private schools.

Paper long abstract:

International mobility for studies is a global phenomenon that affects more than 3,5 million persons through the world, with a large majority of them who have chosen OECD countries. Yet, many developing countries are emerging as major destinations. Morocco, for instance, hosts an important sub-Saharan student population estimated at 12,000, of which almost 1,000 Malians in 2012. This proposal seeks to explain that the choice of Moroccan higher institutions is not only due to the bad quality of the Malian educational system, but it also obeys to logics and strategies of social distinction. Our analysis is based on forty qualitative interviews conducted with Malian students during the summer 2012 in Rabat and Casablanca. From preliminary results, it appears that the students who are granted a Malian scholarship attend public universities and mainly sought to "escape from" the Malian educational system. However, the richest ones are self-funded by their parents to study fields they could have had in Malian tertiary schools and mostly attend private universities. The financing of the families is part of strategies of social distinction through a Moroccan diploma since they could not get into a french or American university. The attractiveness of Morocco may be understood by the fact that it is a default destination for Malian students, most of whom intend to pursue their studies in a Western country. Also that fascination concerning Moroccan higher education is strengthened by a competitive academic offer compared to students'countries of origin and the exponential growth of Moroccan private schools.