Building Independence: Transnational Aid, Professional Networks, and Moroccan Elites in the Making of École Mohammadia d’ingénieurs (1959-1980)

This article focuses on the history of the construction of the École Mohammadia d’ingénieurs (EMI) in Rabat, that was built in 1959 shortly after independence. As the country’s first major engineering school, the EMI was the crucible of the new Moroccan technical elite. The project was entrusted to architect Claude Verdugo, who designed its initial nucleus and subsequent expansions during the 1960s and 1980s. However, the story of EMI’s construction also unfolds at the crossroads of several foreign-aid schemes: there was support from the United Nations Special Fund, whereby equipment and experts were dispatched under UNESCO’s aegis, and bilateral cooperation, primarily French and Belgian, in charge of recruiting faculty.Drawing upon and cross-referencing diplomatic archives, UNESCO reports, and architectural plan studies, this research aims to move beyond a historical perspective solely centered on the figure and role of foreign architects (in this case Claude Verdugo) in the construction of major buildings after independence in Morocco. EMI thus emerges as a site where entanglement occurred, since it was dependent on external technical and academic models yet claimed as a symbol of post-colonial sovereignty in the making. Analysis of this configuration elucidates the relations linking post-independence architectural history, the “Moroccanization” of technical expertise, and negotiations between Moroccan and foreign actors within the politics of development assistance.