Cohort II of the Master’s Degree in Cultural Policy and Cultural Management program will soon complete their third semester of this two-year program, after which they embark on the final stretch: their theses.
The program, which was launched in winter 2020, is hosted by the Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Ben M’sik, at Hassan II University in Casablanca, Morocco. The 2020-2022 academic year kicked off in the fall of 2020, following the application and selection process that began in June 2020.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the program began in December instead of October, using a digital remote learning platform for the first time, after obtaining accreditation from the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education. Students were therefore able to register for classes in a program officially recognized as an online master’s degree course.
Modules are distributed on three teaching semesters conducted by 11 Moroccan and 9 international professors. The fourth semester, which the students will begin by the end of February, is dedicated to MA thesis research. In addition to their thesis advisors, students will find support in an intensive online workshop planned for February 2022 and a summer academy to be held in Germany in July 2022 in cooperation with Hildesheim University. This will be the first time the students will be able to meet in person.
The MA program is implemented in collaboration with Hassan II University in Casablanca and Hildesheim University in Germany, its UNESCO Chair for Cultural Policies for Arts in Development and the UNESCO Chair of Cultural Policies of Belgrade University. It aims to develop a new generation of researchers, cultural managers, policy makers, and academics equipped to contribute to cultural practices in their countries and in the Arab region, and to apply a strategic approach in their work whether in the public cultural sector, creative industries, or the independent non-profit cultural sector.
Seventeen students are currently participating in the program:
- Ahmed Elkastawy- Egypt, TV production and radio
- Akram Herrak – Morocco, cinema critic
- Assia Elbrrah – Morocco, theater performer
- Chaima El Ouardi – Morocco, English literature student
- Elaf Babiker (Alkanzy)– Sudan, cultural manager
- Fatma Alsalmi – Oman, artistic director
- Hiba Taim – Morocco, painter
- Hosameeldine El thani – Libya, writer and calligrapher
- Imane Sara Echcherki – Morocco, cultural researcher and activist in human and women rights
- Ines Tlili – Tunisia, filmmaker and cultural worker
- Khawla Kachouane – Morocco, English teacher and singer
- Khalid Chellali – Morocco, video editor & literary and cultural researcher
- Khalil Ismaili Alaoui – Morocco, graphic designer
- Mohamed M’Barek – Mauritania, civil society worker
- Oumaima Bouchane – Morocco, PR manager of Aga’Harmonie philharmonic orchestra and writer
- Selimane Koubaich – Morocco, cultural engineer and founder of “Culture in the Village” project
- Youness Chafiq – Morocco, rapper and sound mixing engineer
