Expected impact of Law No. 59.24 on the control system of Moroccan public universities: A comparative analysis with France

Abstract

Law No. 59.24 on higher education and scientific research reshapes the responsibilities of Moroccan public universities, yet the available studies mainly describe governance weaknesses or reform prescriptions without bringing autonomy, financial control, evaluation, management control, institutional data and accountability together within a single analytical framework. This article addresses that gap by examining the mechanisms through which the reform may shift university control away from compliance with individual acts and toward the steering of institutional trajectories, risks, commitments and results over time. The study adopts a qualitative, comparative and prospective approach based on a purposive corpus of forty-five legal texts, institutional reports and scientific works concerning Morocco and France. France is used as a contrasting case within a most-similar-systems logic, not as a model for mechanical transfer, in order to identify potentially useful instruments, conditions for contextual adaptation and undesirable effects to prevent. The analysis highlights seven mechanisms: multi-year contractualisation, integration of evaluation into steering, professionalisation of management control, articulation between autonomy and financial sustainability, data standardisation, responsible artificial-intelligence governance and stronger accountability of governing boards. The comparison indicates that these mechanisms become credible when contracts cover significant resources, information is sufficiently reliable for decision-making, organisational capacities are appropriate to the responsibilities delegated, and periodic review procedures allow objectives or resources to be adjusted when necessary. The study remains ex ante, documentary and prospective and therefore does not measure consolidated effects. It proposes seven testable research propositions, a maturity index for trajectory control and a longitudinal monitoring framework for the 2026-2030 implementation period.

JEL Classification: H83; I23; M40; O38.

Paper type: Theoretical Research.