The Impact of Cultural and Socioeconomic Background on University Student Learning Autonomy in Morocco

This research examines the role that culture and the social environment play in the growth of autonomous learning among students in Moroccan high learning institutions. Learning autonomy which is the extent to which students take charge of their learning and are able to self-study is essential in both academics and in everyday life. The use of a mixed-methods triangulation design enables the study to use both quantitative survey data as well as qualitative interview data in determining the impact of cultural including, family obligations, and socio-economic status on learners’ ability to be self-directed. The study demonstrates that affirming cultural tenets like collectivism, insistency from parents, and traditional stick in the head students to teachers systems restrict students’ freedom but ready access to equipment like phones and internet as well as money greatly promotes it. The statistical analysis of survey data addresses the issue of availability of resources among students of differing socioeconomic status and the challenges lower class students face in squeezing into the society’s academic ladder. Along with these internalized limits exist external ones presented by the society, and those are ethnical and financial all together. The above have been addressed at different levels including improved facilitation of learning, provision and availability of resources, financial assistance and promotion of diversity. The study recommends that improving these conditions can create a situation in higher education in Morocco where every student, irrespective of his/her background can efficiently flourish as a self-dependent learner.