Sub-Saharan students in Morocco: determinants, everyday life, and future plans of a high-skilled migrant group

Abstract

Based on a study of sub-Saharan students in Morocco, this paper addresses the relationship between international student mobility and high-skilled migration and analyses how the increasing movement of sub-Saharan students to Morocco contributes to Morocco's transition to being a country of immigration and to its integration into the sub-Saharan migratory system. By studying the migration trajectories of sub-Saharan students, the article shows how three factors influence the students' movement to Morocco: their aspirations to expatriate, their growing up in cultures of migration and the existence of social networks linking the students to Morocco. The experience of otherness in a transit and immigration country such as Morocco contributes further to the shaping of an identity as transmigrants among students who consider their stay in Morocco as a first step on a longer-term migration that might lead to a second emigration or a permanent settlement in Morocco.

Keywords:

• African migration
• high-skilled migrants
• migration transitions
• Morocco
• student mobility

Acknowledgements

I thank Katharina Natter and Yasmine Berriane for their feedback and help during the preparation of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Funding

This work was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); the International Migration Institute; and the Chaire d’Études Africaines Comparées at the University Mohammed VI, Rabat.