Madar (Nouakchott) - The row over lists of doctoral scholarships to Morocco continued after the top-ranked student in the English studies master's track at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities responded to explanations from a classmate on the scholarship list, who is the niece of the minister of higher education.
In a Facebook post, the top student said the university had published results for each track in order of merit, arguing that claims of no official ranking were unfounded. She also questioned the criteria used to select scholarship holders when no call for applications had been issued, saying the issue goes beyond her own case to students' right to equal opportunity.
For her part, the student on the list announced she was giving up her place in Morocco after consulting her mother.
The National Union of Mauritanian Students had criticised the scholarship lists, calling for transparency, equality and fairness. The higher education ministry had earlier published the lists of scholarship holders before withdrawing them, while it suspended sending doctoral students abroad some time ago, citing a policy of developing postgraduate studies at home.
