Closing of the 2011-2012 academic year

The end of the 2011-2012 academic year at the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques (FST) of Fez was marked by the organisation of a wide range of scientific and educational activities. In addition to the exhibition of student work, the defence of end-of-study projects, the FST hosted training sessions for research teachers and administrative staff and international cooperation activities. Thus, the FST Doctoral Studies Centre organised in June a final training session for its doctoral students, thus completing the 200 hours of complementary training, mandatory for any candidate for a doctorate degree in engineering sciences and techniques. In addition to supplements in specific technical fields, it is training in the fields of management, ICT, law, university pedagogy and research valorisation techniques. National and foreign university speakers, as well as professionals and socio-economic operators participated in these training cycles.

The same month also saw the organisation of an important seminar on quality in engineering training. According to Prof. Mohcine Zouak, dean of the FST, the importance of this scientific event lies in improving the visibility of engineering training to facilitate the comparability of qualifications, implementing quality processes, while contributing to improving the processes of equivalence of national diplomas and promoting the mobility of students and graduates. Furthermore, at the level of international cooperation, the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques hosted two events, within the framework of the ERA-WIDE project of the capacity programme, financed by the European Commission (7th Research & Development Framework Programme). These are the first multilateral meeting of the European MoICT project (Morocco Research Advance in ICT for Water), as well as the first training session on the opportunities offered by the 7th "Research-Development" Framework Programme of the European Commission.

Endowed with a budget of 494,566 Euros over 30 months, the MoICT project aims to strengthen the co-operational and technical capacities of the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University of Fez in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) applied to water research in the context of the European Research Area (ERA). Bringing together four partners from three different countries: CTM (Fundació CTM Centre Tecnològic) from Spain, REDINN Srl and CUBIT (Consortium Ubiquitous Technologies S.c.a.r.l.) from Italy and the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University of Morocco as project coordinator, it also aims to develop a centre of research excellence at the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in the field of ICT for water. Prof. Mustapha Ijjaali, project coordinator, emphasises in this context the need to combine efforts with a view to building projects bringing together researchers and actors working in the field of water and information and communication technologies. As for the first training session on the opportunities offered by the 7th "Research-Development" Framework Programme of the European Commission, it was marked by the participation of more than forty researchers who proposed project ideas that will be refined with a view to submission to the European Commission.

Provider / Source : A.R., Le Matin