Transnational Higher Educational Offers and the Mobility of African Students

This communication proposal aims to present initial reflections related to a research project submitted for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions postdoctoral program (2025). Further to a sociology PhD defended in 2021 on Moroccan student mobilities in France (North-South), this research project focuses on intra-African student mobilities. Through a comparative analysis of Morocco and Senegal, now emerging as crucial educational hubs for African students, the THEMAS (Transnational Higher Education Offers and the Mobility of African Students) project goes beyond the traditional South-North migration paradigm, where Europe, North America, and Australia have long served as the primary destinations. While much of the existing research on alternative destinations for international student mobility has focused on Asian and Gulf States, North and West African countries remain largely underexplored. This research proposal aims to address this gap and seeks to simultaneously advance the field of the emerging multipolar geography of international student mobility.

Since the 2000s, Morocco and Senegal have undergone significant liberalization and internationalization of their education systems, driven by reforms advocated by the World Bank and the European Union. These reforms have fostered the growth of private higher education markets and enabled the implementation of transnational higher education (TNHE) by foreign institutions. TNHE allows African students to access international education locally, thereby avoiding the substantial financial costs and complex administrative procedures associated with studying in the global North. This research investigates how TNHE in Morocco and Senegal influences intra-African student mobility and addresses two central questions: How does the implementation of TNHE in these countries provide an alternative to traditional mobility flows toward Europe and North America? And to what extent does it promote intra-African student mobility?