Quality assurance and internationalization in Moroccan higher education: An ecosystemic analysis of the Faculty of Educational Sciences and a comparative benchmark of global Faculties of Education

Résumé

Abstract

This article examines how quality assurance and internationalization are reshaping Moroccan higher education when viewed through an ecosystemic lens. Focusing on the Faculty of Educational Sciences (FSE) at Mohammed V University in Rabat, it analyses how successive national reforms, the development of a national quality assurance framework, and emerging internationalization practices are transforming the faculty’s position within a multi-level network of actors that includes ministries, institutions, schools, local communities and global partners. Methodologically, the study is based on qualitative documentary analysis of policy texts and institutional data, complemented by a comparative benchmark of selected Faculties and Colleges of Education in Europe, North America, Asia and the Arab world. The findings highlight, first, the persistence of structural tensions in the Moroccan system despite an increasingly dense architecture of reforms and evaluation instruments. Second, they show that quality assurance and internationalization can operate either as fragmented, bureaucratic add-ons or as levers for reconfiguring university-ecosystem relations, depending on how they are embedded in institutional missions and governance. The international benchmark identifies organizational models and practices that offer realistic options for FSE and Moroccan universities. The study concludes with policy and institutional recommendations to support a more coherent, context-sensitive use of quality assurance and internationalization as drivers of transformative change.  

Keywords

Quality assurance; Internationalization of higher education; Faculty of Educational Sciences; Comparative benchmark; Educational policy.