Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique

The Faculté de Gouvernance, Sciences économiques et sociales at the Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique (formerly École de Gouvernance et d'Économie de Rabat) is an exchange destination for University College Utrecht students in Rabat, Morocco. As the agreement is only with the Governance, Economic and Social Sciences faculty this destination is mainly for social science students, as well as students interested in learning Arabic.

Webpages
Number of places available

2 per semester

Language of instruction

From the 250 courses taught at Faculty of Governance, Economics and Social Sciences around half of them are taught in English. There is a possibility of oversubscription, which means you might have to take courses in French, so some level of knowledge of French is recommended.  Knowledge of Arabic is not necessary, but international students are expected to study Arabic as part of their programme.

Course offerings

Courses in Political Science, Law, Economics, History. The course list changes every year and is modified according to current events in the MENA region. 

Credit system

FGSES uses the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) to assess the workload of the courses. Most courses are 5ECTS, meaning you should take 6 courses for a full course load.

Grade system

FGSES grades are converted to UCU grades according to the following table:

EGE Rabat

UCU

16.5-20

A+

16

A

15

A-

14

B+

13

B

12.5

B-

12

C+

11

C

10

C-

9

D+

8

D

7.5

D-

7>

F

Housing

Shared or private apartments. The shared apartments in the University area can be provided by FGSES. Apply on time, as the process takes a while. Click here for more information. Off-campus housing must be found independently, but it is not very difficult.  

Costs

Private one bedroom apartments in a shared apartment between 2500 Dhs -3500 Dhs, private own apartment full equipped between 3500-6000 Dhs or take apartments in the FGSES neighborhood between 5000 and 7000 Dhs which can be shared with other international students (price per person incl water/electricity is approximately 2550 Dhs). Students should budget for at least 8,000 Dhs per month.

Orientation

The orientation week is organized every semester one week before the first day of class. During this week, students receive information about FGSES, academics, life in Morocco and the city Rabat. Students are assigned a buddy to help them adapt. 

Situation

The FGSES campus is located in the center of Rabat, the capital of Morocco which has over half a million inhabitants. Rabat is a popular tourist destination which houses the royal palace, old Islamic, Roman, and Carthaginian sights, museums, and beaches. The city is described as less hectic than other Moroccan cities such as Marrakech and Casablanca. Read more here

The climate of Rabat is Mediterranean. Winters are much less cold than in Utrecht and summers are warmer too. 

Student life

The campus doesn’t have a cafeteria, but it is located near many restaurants. The Student Activities Center (SAC) runs 9 clubs and activities for students. The Bureau des Étudiants (BDE) also organizes informal and academic activities. The Faculty of Governance, Economics and Social sciences itself also hosts public events on a regular basis such as books’ presentations, conferences from renowned scholars as well as guest lecturers, scientific seminars or expositions 

Student experiences

Rabat is a great and cheap city with tons of things to do. Students advise planning your schedule well in advance. Courses are taught in English and French, and are very well-structured and organized. The workload is similar to UCU. 

More information

For information about the requirements for studying abroad, the application procedure and more, go to UCU's Study abroad page. 

You can browse through all UCU exchange destinations and UU exchange destinations in the exchange catalog.