The language factor constitutes a handicap for cooperation between American research centres and Moroccan universities, indicated, on Tuesday in Kenitra, Mr. Kamal Oudrhiri, a Moroccan telecommunications engineer at the Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Pasadena in California.

Mr. Oudrhiri, who was leading a conference with one of his colleagues, a robotics specialist at NASA, Mr. Paulo Younse, and the Moroccan athlete Nezha Bidouane, world champion in the 400-metre hurdles, at the National School of Management and Commerce (ENCG) of Kenitra on the theme of success through innovation, particularly insisted on the mastery of the English language. American research centres, he said, establish collaborative relationships with public universities that master the English language.

Mr. Oudrhiri, who is also president of the American foundation Grove of Hope, is giving, from 2 to 16 May, a series of lectures in several Moroccan universities as part of his spring lecture series on the general theme "tradition, innovation and academic excellence".

The objective of this series of lectures, he explained, is to highlight the importance of the role of technology for quality higher education. Morocco, he said, is a leader in Africa in terms of telecommunications, but its universities do not take advantage of this technological advantage. The quality of public university education, he said, is one of the criteria for evaluating the degree of development of a country.

For Mr. Oudrhiri, Moroccan universities must create a technological platform allowing them to establish remote collaboration between them, notably by videoconference. We learn more through the exchange of experience, knowledge and questions than through courses and rote learning, he insisted.

The "Grove of Hope" foundation, which includes a group of internationally renowned specialists and professionals, has the mission of promoting earth and space sciences in Africa. Mr. Oudrhiri indicated that his foundation has started, since 2004, in Morocco a partnership programme with primary and secondary schools on teaching science to young people, project management and leadership at university and learning the English language.

For her part, Nezha Bidouane spoke about her sporting career, her successes and also her setbacks and advised students to take advantage of their successes and learn lessons from their failures. "It is by falling that one learns to walk," she said.