The Spanish mission in Tangier has some 1,200 Moroccan students, 500 of whom are pursuing their secondary studies at the Severo Ochoa Spanish Institute. Representatives of the parents' association of this institute expressed their indignation on Thursday, 14 June, during a press conference, regarding the increase in registration fees at Spanish universities for non-EU foreign students. They thus wanted to draw attention to the situation, in particular, of new Moroccan baccalaureate holders from the ten Spanish schools in Morocco, as well as that of the 4,000 Moroccan students spread across eight Spanish universities. Thanks to quality training in these university establishments, "a large number of Moroccan students are pursuing their higher education in Spain, 1,200 of whom are enrolled at the universities of Granada. They are, therefore, threatened with having to stop their studies following this increase in registration fees," explained Khalid Tabali, president of the association.

It should be remembered that the new Spanish government has just imposed an increase in registration fees of 1,000 euros, which can reach between 6,000 and 9,000 euros in some universities for, among others, Moroccan students, starting from the next academic year. According to the officials of the parents' association of the Severo Ochoa Spanish Institute, this decision, deemed "discriminatory", has caused NGOs, political activists and human rights activists in Spain to react, especially since Moroccan students should not be affected by this increase in university registration fees, according to a convention signed in 1982 between Morocco and Spain which stipulates the reciprocity of treatment of Spanish and Moroccan citizens in the universities of the two signatory countries. "Until now, we have received no official response regarding the handling of our situation," said Mr Tabali.

On this occasion, the parents of the students called on the officials to look into the situation of Spanish baccalaureate graduates as soon as possible and to grant them the right to equivalence. This would allow them to "pursue their studies in universities in Morocco as is the case for students from the French mission," stressed Mr Tabali.