Fast Facts about AUI
The University: Founded in 1993 by Royal Dahir (charter), Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (AUI) opened it doors to students in January 1995 and a completely modern and networked campus. The University is coeducational, residential and primarily undergraduate but has rapidly growing graduate programs. The outlook is international and tolerance is promoted and expected of students, staff, and faculty members belonging to over 25 nationalities who live and work together.
Campus: The 40 hectare campus is located in the oak forest on the north side of the resort town of Ifrane. Facilities include 16 residence buildings for students whose rooms all have their own bathrooms. There is a gymnasium and an indoor Olympic, regulation size swimming pool next to the soccer field and track across from the 3 regulation tennis courts. All classroom buildings are located next to each other and have faculty offices distributed throughout. The main auditorium seats 600 and is the site for concerts and special events.
The Town of Ifrane and the Region: Ifrane has a regular population of 12,000 that expands to nearly 100,000 on weekends, holidays and summers because is popular destination because its beauty in all 4 seasons. The elevation is 1600 meters (5000 feet). Ifrane is nestled in the Middle Atlas Mountains which is home the largest cedar forest in North Africa and is the most biologically diverse area in Morocco. The ski slopes of Michlifin and Hebri are about 25 minutes from campus. The imperial cities of Meknes and Fez are an hour (65 kilometers) from Ifrane. The capital city of Rabat on the Atlantic coast is 2 hours from Ifrane; the Sahara desert is just 6.
Calendar: AUI operates two 16 week semesters that run late August to mid December and mid January to mid May. There is currently one 7-week summer session that is from early June to late July. Summer is the busiest time for conference, visitors, and special groups.
Recreation and Athletics: There are numerous activities each week and over 40 clubs to appeal to nearly any interest: sporting, artistic, cultural, or academic. In addition to the several inter-mural teams and tournaments, there are official men's and women's teams representing AUI in national university leagues in volleyball, soccer, basketball and tennis. The sport facilities and altitude have attracted the national swim teams of Egypt, Algeria, to train and Syria at AUI in addition to the various Moroccan national teams of tennis, soccer, and track.
Faculty: Composed of 95 highly qualified professionals, most with PhDs or doctorates, of whom 83 are full-time and 12 are part-time. Highly international, 55% of faculty members are Moroccan, a number of which have dual citizenship, and 45% of faculty members are international representing over 15 nationalities.
Student Body: With just over 1000 students enrolled, the
majority are full time and live on campus. The opening of a new residence
on campus in late 2005 will allow the student body to expand to 1200. The
student population is and has been in all 10 years balanced at 50% female
and 50% male. There is an increasingly international character to the student
body with over 160 students of 28 nationalities on campus in study abroad
and exchange programs in regular semester, or attending the intensive Arabic
and North African Studies summer program.
Student-Faculty Ratio: This ratio is 11 students for each faculty member.
All full-time faculty members maintain a minimum of 9 office hours per week
for easy access by students.
Average Class Size: Students have ample opportunity to question, respond, and interact with the professor and classmates because the average class size is 17 students.
Mohamed VI Library: The number of titles in print is 65,000 and growing. The subscription to electronic collections has grown rapidly such that there are over 1 million full-text articles in over 4500 journals with are available to students, faculty and staff. Services include a multimedia center, individual and group study areas, and reference assistance which are all housed in one of the most striking buildings on campus. His Majesty, Mohamed IV, honored the library by giving his name, an unprecedented distinction in the Moroccan academy.
Study Abroad and Exchange Opportunities: AUI students are encouraged to spend a semester or two as an exchange student at one of over 30 highly respected partner universities and colleges in Austria, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, and the USA. An average of 30 exchange and study abroad students are at AUI each semester while the special programs of summer attract nearly 100 foreign students from the USA and around the world.
Inter-religious Dialogue and Multi-cultural Space: A central concern in the founding vision of His Late Majesty Hassan II was the importance of AUI as an intellectual and spiritual space where the 3 religions of the book (Islam, Judaism and Christianity) could co-exist in harmony and affirm common heritage and values. Tolerance being the capacity to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others has enjoyed a long tradition in Morocco continues to be promoted in the University Common Core curriculum and through the numerous activities on campus. Every year time is devoted to various countries and cultures on campus including Palestine Day, Egypt Day, Korea Day, German Week, Japan Day, Thailand Day, and Amazigh and Native American Week.
Computing at AUI: AUI has recently leased lines at a capacity of 8 megabits per second and now has the fastest connection among all institutions of higher education in Morocco. There are 3 ISDN lines dedicated for video-teleconferencing which is an easy way to connect classes around the world. The fully wired campus has just over 2000 connections with a connection in every classroom and every student room. Over 50% of students have personal computers and laptops. The University community uses Lotus Notes for an integrated email and productivity system. The AUI web site www.aui.ma has been fitted with a class 3 digital certificate providing 128 bit encryption to secure all its communications and applications such as admissions on-line and on-line registration.
Tuition and Financial Aid: Tuition for 15 credits, room
and board is about 48 000 Dirhams per semester for Moroccan students. For
international students, tuition for 15 credits, room and board is 62 000
Dirhams per semester. Approximately a third of students receive some kind
of assistance in the forms of scholarships, part-time jobs and special interest
rates for bank loans. Merit-based and some need based aid is available to
Moroccan citizens and international students. All admission decisions are
need-blind. Financial aid in 2004-2005 amounted to nearly one million Dirhams.