Morocco: No, I didn't go to Rick's
Welcome to Morocco, here’s one of your two bags. While you will be able to clothe yourself you will not be able to make the triumphant pronouncement about VCU’s landing on Moroccan soil that you would with two large banners and a table cloth. Go get ‘em tiger. I think my banners are sunning it up in Marrakech right now, but they could be drowning their sorrows beneath the grey skies of London.
Morocco has its own level of intensity. Not the kind you find in India, but an interpersonal intensity that is seen on the faces of people you speak with, in the eyes of waiters, and in the sarcasm of a train conductor who won’t let you hop off one train to pick up the right train that is trailing by 10 minutes. Dodging cars while crossing the street in Casablanca is like avoiding raindrops, seek shelter where you can.
Casablanca is growing. The technical term for it is sprawl, but when there aren’t any rules to begin with you call it economic opportunity. The city centre was primarily built by the French who, I must say, did a pretty good job with their broad boulevards, use of green space, and roundabouts. They cannot help that no one decides to white wash the walls of the buildings lining the city streets or that people choose to ignore such bothersome details like traffic lights and lanes.
The Mohammed V mosque rises over the port and the souqs on one end of Casablanca, but the Casablanca Technology Park glimmers at the other end. This might no longer be the city of passports sold on the black market (or play it again Sam) but the entrepreneurial spirit lives on in IT and communication firms who are settling in, on the outskirts of town.
Casablanca American School (CAS) is near the technology park (Quartier Californie), and sits among some of the poshest homes you will find in Casa. Randy is the new college counselor and left Nawlins (as he puts it) for this school after 20 plus years as a counselor at a private high school stateside. He has a good group of students. I met seniors through sophomores in my recent visit. These kids on the IB program are smart, confident, and think that VCU is a really good bargain (I am not making this up as I go along).
As I meet more people from other universities I tend to agree with these students (did I mention they are smart?). When you think about what you will get in your first year as an international student at VCU for $27,000 USD you realize what a steal it is. Room and Board, Tuition and Fees, books and projected expenses all included. That is not to mention the escort service we offer from the airport or to an embassy in Washington, DC, or the free lunch international students receive each Wednesday at Coffee Hour, or the opportunity to have a conversation partner (read, free way to learn English). As I have mentioned before, everything an international student could want can be found at 916 W. Franklin Street, in the Office of International Education.
Eric Wickenheiser is a VCU alumnus who is teaching art classes at CAS. He came to my table during the fair at the school and encouraged his students to apply to the number one public arts program in the United States. He has been in Casablanca for just over a year, having left the American International School of Kuwait (AISK), where he taught for three years. In fact we have 3 students from AISK coming to VCU in the fall.
I met with students at Rabat American School (RAS). Rabat is the administrative head of the country. It is cleaner than Casablanca but less interesting. I could buy a pair of Diesel jeans in Rabat, but I could not get assulted at a soccer match. Life is a bunch of tradeoffs. The students at RAS are not unlike their friends at CAS: smart, curious and western. Two of the students had homes in Virginia. Most of them did not. Ellen Boucher is the counselor there and she too is new to the country and the school. But she was kind enough to organize a private meeting with me and about 15 students to discuss VCU. One student was there because her brother is transferring. Many of the students were interested in engineering and the arts.
Later in the day I gave a presentation at the Amideast office in Rabat. Amideast is an organization supported with a grant from the US State Department to promote US higher education in the Africa and the Middle East. We are a member school and two advantages to being a member school is that when you walk in the office the school pendant is posted on the wall, and they help organize information sessions for you. In this case I met with 10 interested students and I think I even converted one student who had already applied to a university in the Northeast. He was having problems with the paperwork they were asking him to do and I explained how easy it is to apply to VCU, and how our admissions people (Blair, Mas, Alica and Erin) work hard to process applications. In fact, if we receive an applicant's complete application on Monday, there is a good chance they will have their I-20 by Saturday if they are accepted. I asked if the other univeristy had the same turnaround and his face went blank.
The fair in Casablanca was a good one for VCU. With 170 programs we have most everything a student could ask for. The MBA is a big attraction, especially with the resources made available to these students with the new building that is being built. Also, I think these applicants like the concept of the CEO in the Classroom program, which brings local business leaders (did I mention Virginia is the best state in the country for new business growth?) into the classroom for lectures. As a matter of fact this week is the International Business Forum held on our campus. President Trani is sitting on a panel with business leaders from Richmond and Washington DC to discuss the impact of international business on the region and future opportunities. It makes me think of when the Chairman of Williams-Sonoma came for a similar discussion, which makes me think of when Tom Curley, the CEO of Associated Press came for a similar discussion. VCU does an excellent job of bringing internationally recognized leaders to campus.
Another attraction was Mechanical Engineering and again the 50 research labs, wireless classrooms, student lounges and the remarkably low student teacher ratio wowed the students. Engineering students spend so much time in the engineering building that it is nice to be able to work and relax in a wireless world. The other cool thing about our School of Engineering is they see themselves in the faculty. There are several international faculty members at the school and that brings a level of comfort to our students from abroad.
This was a quick trip to Morocco. We have a handful of Moroccans currently at VCU and I hope that our activities in the past two days have encouraged others that VCU is the place for them. I also hope my luggage arrives with me in Amman.