Considered the main destination for high school graduates in the Fez-Boulemane region, Sidi Mohammed ben Abdellah University sees the number of its students increase from one year to the next. The number of students walking through the various establishments of the University exceeded 75,000 during the 2012-2013 academic year, with a high concentration at the Dhar El Mehraz pole, and it is expected to reach 90,000 during the next academic year. "We have planned, within the framework of the emergency plan, to go from 27,000 to 50,000 physical places, knowing that one place is equivalent to accommodating 100 students. Today, with the completed projects, I estimate that 75% of the objectives in terms of reception capacities have been reached," reassures Farissi Esserrhini, President of Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University. He explains that most of the projects launched by HM King Mohammed VI in May 2011 are completed. "The Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, the Higher School of Technology, the Faculty of Arts of Saiss, and the Faculty of Law are equipped with new reception structures. We have a delay in three projects. The two projects for the National Institute of Applied Sciences and the National School of Commerce and Management will be completed in December 2013, while, for lack of land, we have decided to temporarily locate the Centre for Economic and Management Sciences at the site of the prefabricated building of the Dhar El Mehraz Faculty of Law, while waiting for it to be ready at the end of 2014," he adds. The university is called upon to absorb more than 20,000 baccalaureate holders annually. Also, the problem of the quality of education is acutely imposed. And for several years, the education provided at Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, as in other universities in the country, has been pointed at. "We cannot ask a student to fully assimilate their courses in lecture halls that are packed to the rafters," stresses the University President. In order to solve the problem of the high concentration of university structures, which is recorded both at Dhar El Mehraz and at the Saiss level, due in particular to the construction of two university residences and rapid urbanisation in the surroundings, and to be able to go from 50,000 to 83,000 physical places and accommodate 125,000 students by 2016, it is necessary to invest, according to Farissi Esserrhini, nearly 680 million DH. "We are counting above all on the project of the university town of Aïn Chegag on 100 hectares to absorb a significant number of students, improve the quality of education, and allow Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University to take its share in the training of national and global elites, since it is planned to open the university town to representations of prestigious American, Asian, and European universities. We hope that this project will see the light of day to promote the integration of our Moroccan university into the world by strengthening its attractiveness," he explains. This university town in Aïn Chegag, located nearly 10 km from the city of Fez, is designed as a true technological hub with all the reception infrastructures of the USMBA and its various components and university residences, including a "Medina city" inspired by the Medina of Fez, with branches of international universities, a School of Fine Arts, a School of Architecture, clusters of national and foreign companies, conference rooms, laboratories, a hotel, sports and leisure spaces, commerce and security spaces, a restaurant space, a museum space, a university library, etc. The financing will be private and public. "We are waiting for the supervisory ministry to release the funds for the acquisition of the land, estimated at 30 million DH, at a price of 30 DH per square metre. For the equipment, we are counting on the University's own resources as well as on our foreign partners, in particular our American partners from the University of Massachusetts, our partners in the Middle East, and other international donors," indicates the University President, insisting that to carry out this project, which should start in 2016, we must start working today.

The university town project of Aïn Chegag is called upon to ensure an important aspect which is security. Today, the two university poles Dhar El Mehraz and Saiss find themselves surrounded by housing and, at the slightest problem or demonstration, the neighbourhoods and vital axes of the city find themselves occupied by angry students. And it is the same for the Multidisciplinary Faculty of Taza which also suffers from serious problems of infighting and tensions between the different student movements and currents, or even violence that has punctuated the student life of Fez for many years and which slows down the momentum of the University. "A small barricade on the Imouzzer road or on the Aïn Chkef road is enough for the traffic routes leading to Fez-Saiss airport, the Rabat motorway, Ifrane, and Imouzzer to be cut off," indicates the University President.