Arabic-Medium Versus French-Medium University Tracks in Morocco Explained
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 07, 2026 • Education Planning
Morocco splits its education system by subject, not by student: humanities and religious studies stay in Arabic, while science, medicine, and engineering shift to French in the final years of secondary school and stay French through most of university.
🎓 Faculties of Science, medical schools, and engineering schools such as ENSA, EMI, and Hassania teach mainly in French.
Faculties of Arts and Humanities, Islamic studies, and law teach mainly in Arabic.
⏱️ The 2019 framework law, Loi-cadre 51-17, wrote the French-medium arrangement for science and technical subjects into law.
📩 Since 2025, universities have started adding Arabic-taught components inside French-medium science, engineering, and medicine programs.
Two languages, split by subject
Morocco does not run two separate school systems side by side. The language of instruction changes by subject and by education level. Arabic dominates humanities, religion, and social studies throughout school and university. French dominates science, technical, and medical subjects once students reach the final stretch of secondary school, and it stays dominant through most of university.
Where French enters at secondary level
Primary and early secondary teaching runs mostly in Arabic. From the qualifying years of the lycée, the tracks leading to the baccalaureate in science, math, and technical streams, math and science subjects switch to French, even though the surrounding curriculum, including Arabic literature and Islamic education, stays in Arabic. Students heading into science and math baccalaureate tracks need working French for their science coursework before they finish secondary school.
Why the split exists
Morocco pursued an Arabization policy for primary and secondary education starting in the 1980s, moving general subjects into Arabic. Universities never made the same full switch, since research literature, professor training, and existing university science programs stayed French-based. Reforms tied to the National Charter for Education and Training later reintroduced French for math and science in the final years of secondary school, aiming to narrow the gap students hit when they reached university science programs still running in French.
French-medium university tracks
At university, French is the working language across most public science and technical faculties, including:
Faculté des Sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science)
Faculties of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy
Engineering schools such as the École Mohammadia d'Ingénieurs, the Écoles Nationales des Sciences Appliquées (ENSA) network, and the Hassania School of Public Works
Most business and economics programs
It is common for a student who studied science mostly in Arabic through secondary school to move directly into French-medium lectures, textbooks, and exams at university, with little transition support built into the first year.
Arabic-medium university tracks
Arabic stays dominant in:
Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines (literature, history, geography, psychology, philosophy)
Islamic studies faculties, including Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania
Law faculties, which teach mainly in Arabic with some French legal terminology
Students in these tracks rarely need French at the intensity science students do, though French stays useful for research literature and graduate study abroad.
Language by faculty
| Faculty or program | Main teaching language |
|---|---|
| Science, engineering schools | French |
| Medicine, pharmacy, dentistry | French |
| Business and economics | French, with growing English use |
| Arts, humanities, social science | Arabic |
| Islamic studies | Arabic |
| Law | Arabic |
What the 2019 framework law changed
Morocco's 2019 framework law on education, training, and scientific research, Loi-cadre 51-17, promulgated in August 2019, wrote the existing French-medium arrangement for science and technical subjects into law rather than leaving it as informal practice. The law also opened the door to English as a teaching language in some programs and required foreign-language-medium programs to include an Arabic-taught course component, according to the Moroccan Ministry of National Education .
That Arabic-component requirement started showing up in practice by 2025. Public universities began introducing Arabic-taught units inside science, engineering, and medicine programs that had run entirely in French, according to Morocco World News . The change adds Arabic content alongside French instruction rather than replacing it.
Choosing your track
Planning for science, medicine, or engineering: build French reading and listening ability before your final secondary years. Weak French is a common reason students struggle in first-year university science courses.
Planning for humanities, Islamic studies, or law: Arabic carries you through most of your degree, though French still helps for research and further study.
Private universities and some international programs increasingly teach in English, an option worth checking if French is your weaker language.