ABSTRACT
Sub-Saharan students’ main motive for coming to Morocco is to improve their future life prospects. Also, studying in Morocco proves to be a good – and sometimes the only – opportunity to leave one’s country, to study, and thus improve one’s living standards (Interview 10). Indeed, students often stressed the lack of alternatives and the fact that the destination does not always play a key role in their migration decisions. As a student from Niger explained, ‘For me there was no choice. I got my baccalaureate, and this was the first grant that came my way, so I took it’ (Interview 6). Many students would have preferred to study in Europe, but given the lack of opportunities they have settled for coming to Morocco (Interview 7). Morocco is also easier to access for the nationals of several countries such as Congo, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Niger or Senegal since they do not need a visa to enter the country.
