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.