Allocation of students in North African universities

In recent years, student bodies at public universities in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia have grown rapidly, outside the direct control of university authorities. But although entry to higher education remains open to all who pass the baccalauréat examination, the prospect of continued expansion has led to reevaluations of how universities are to serve society by "producing" trained professionals. Government officials, school authorities, and the public have focussed attention on the entry point as a crucial moment for maintaining educational standards within universities and other higher institutes and for determining the social and economic outcomes of higher education. In this article initial attention is given to how the three North African nations differ in their policies regulating which students may study which subjects. This is followed by a discussion of the implications of these policies for the goals higher education is ostensibly meant to serve.