Madar (Nouakchott) - The Student Front for the Defence of Rights and Gains and the committee representing the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research have reached a second agreement that widens grant eligibility, creates an annual financial allowance for students without grants, adds 600 first-year master's places, provides for the renovation of old university housing and an exceptional review of expelled students' cases, according to the minutes published by the Front after a press conference at the University of Nouakchott, details of which were reported by the independent Alakhbar agency and the Essahraa website on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 November 2026.
The agreement comes about three weeks after the Front was formed, and after a first deal on 30 October covering university transport and union representation, which referred the remaining demands to joint committees. At the time of publication, the ministry's website carried no statement on the new agreement.
The minutes set three deadlines: the end of December for forwarding the files of students concerned by the social register, the end of this year for completing the renovation of the old residences, and the 2027-2028 academic year for the additional master's places.
Grants: social register, excellence and doctorates
On grants, the ministry will receive, through its departments, the files of students who believe they meet the social-register criteria but have never been registered, and forward them before the end of December to the General Delegation for National Solidarity and the Fight against Exclusion, "Taazour", to check their situation and record their data.
The academic-excellence criterion is extended to the top ten students in each discipline at all higher-education institutions, and grants are extended to all doctoral students who are not civil servants during their first three years of registration, and in the fourth year for those authorised to continue.
The agreement provides for a financial allowance paid each year to students without grants, ranging, according to Essahraa citing the minutes, from 40,000 old ouguiyas for first- and second-year bachelor's students to 53,000 for third-year students, 57,000 for first-year master's students and 71,000 for second-year master's students.
On 19 October the ministry announced that 22,730 students meet the criteria for domestic grants in the 2026-2027 academic year, out of 52,256, or more than 43% of higher-education students. On 5 November, Minister Yacoub Ould Amine said the number of grant holders had reached 22,700, up from 6,800 in 2019, and that the sector's budget exceeded 23 billion ouguiyas.
Housing, master's places and reorientation
On university housing, the two sides agreed to renovate, equip and furnish the old residences at institutions in the centre of the capital, with work to be completed this year, and to extend housing on an exceptional basis during the current academic year to students admitted under the new criteria through the online platform and to those who were housed last year and still meet the conditions.
The ministry had allocated 3,900 places at the Nouakchott university complex this year, out of 4,000 beds, including 2,510 for male and 1,390 for female students, according to its 19 October announcement.
On the academic side, first-year master's capacity will rise by 600 places, at home and abroad, from the 2027-2028 academic year, and the range of courses will be expanded. Reorientation will be open for one week to those who passed the second session of this year's baccalaureate and to students repeating the first year of their bachelor's degree, and student representatives will take part in setting the criteria for grants, orientation and reorientation at home and abroad.
Expelled students and relations with the unions
On sanctions, the minutes provide for reviewing "on an exceptional basis this year the situation of those who received expulsion decisions in the final year of the bachelor's and master's cycles", so that their situation can be settled under an approach "marked by tolerance and fairness", and for examining requests from students expelled at other levels under the same approach.
The ministry's committee said the ministry would instruct heads of institutions to engage positively with student unions, "as an essential partner in decisions on student affairs".
From the street to the negotiating table
Four unions had announced the creation of the Front on 22 October: the National Union of Mauritanian Students, the General Union of Mauritanian Students, the National Syndicate of Students in Mauritania and the National League of Mauritanian Students, on a day when police dispersed students protesting over university transport in Arafat. A week earlier the ministry had announced free transport for 9,926 students on the social register and a 5,000 old ouguiya monthly pass for the others.
The ministry then announced the end of traditional transport stops serving the university complex from 26 October in favour of high-quality bus lines. That day the Front held simultaneous sit-ins at higher-education institutions, while a transport protest near the University of Nouakchott was dispersed by police, before the tension spilled into politics, with the Democratic Opposition Coalition Pole and the "Tahaddi" party condemning what they called the repression of students.
On 30 October the Front announced a first agreement with the ministry after a week of negotiations: a 3,500 old ouguiya monthly pass for 50 trips on the rapid-transit buses, a 50 old ouguiya ticket kept on lines not served by those buses when paid through the E-ticket app, and the return of student representatives to administrative and academic councils, with field protests suspended temporarily. The Front said at the time it would follow up on implementation and was ready to return to the street if commitments were broken.
According to Essahraa, the Front said the new agreement followed more than a week of discussions and that it is continuing its efforts to improve university transport. Madar published a story on the agreement this morning.
