Fez — The Private University of Fez (UPF) hosted the 10th edition of its HR Forum on Thursday, bringing together more than 30 companies and hundreds of students around a single theme: how to turn training into real opportunities on the job market.
Held on UPF’s campus, the “Forum RH 2025” opened with a welcome from university president Mohamed Aziz Lahlou, before a full day of conferences and meetings with recruiters. The event, built around “training, recruitment, and entrepreneurship,” aimed to connect students directly with Morocco’s economic reality.
In an interview with Morocco World News (MWN), Head of the External Relations at UPF Khalid El Ouadi said “For us it is an opportunity for the students to meet more than 30 enterprises in different disciplines.”
“The objective is to have an idea about what the market needs or the necessities of the job market,” he added, noting that the diversity of disciplines is designed to help students “easily find their objective, which is training or a job.”
A forum built around employability
The morning sessions were anchored by a conference led by employability and entrepreneurship expert Imane Belmaati on “Rethinking Employability in an Age of Change.” She used the platform to share global trends in access to jobs, emerging sectors, new professions, and the skills most in demand today.
“I’m very happy to be part of the 10th edition of the HR Forum at the UPF,” she said in an interview with MWN. “It’s an opportunity to meet young students and to share with them global trends in terms of access to employment, sectors, new jobs, and all the skills that are sought by the labor market.”
Another key moment focused on the “new investment dynamic” in the Fez–Meknes region, presented by Amjad Kiti, Director of the Territorial Offer division at the Fez–Meknes Regional Investment Centre. He reminded participants that the region is now the second university hub in Morocco, with six universities including UPF, and stressed the importance of human capital in attracting private projects.
“Today, the Fez–Meknes region is capitalizing on this qualified human capital, young people, in order to continue in this momentum,” he said. Thanks to a wave of public investment and renewed confidence from private actors, there has been “more than 16.7 billion” in private investment in the first nine months of the year. Kiti insisted that the region intends to “continue on this vision, thanks in particular to the efforts made and thanks to human capital.”
Companies at the table
The Forum also gave the floor to major employers. Senior HR Business Partner at Sonasid, Ahmed Benzakour, took part in a session on the challenges facing the education system and how to better align it with the needs of industry. For the national steel company, he said, being on campus is a deliberate choice.
“For this edition, we have responded, and this is the first time we will be present at the Private University of Fez, to be in close proximity with the students,” he explained to MWN. The goal is to “create rich exchange opportunities and to debate around a key issue, which is employability.” In his view, “employability is not just a need, but it is the reason to succeed in the labor market.”
Moderator Boukhateme Mohammed, Doctor of Management and Strategic Marketing, underlined the same idea. “Today, we are here to moderate a conference or a forum, if you like, which concerns employability,” he said. “Our main objective today, and the objective of the UPF, is to create synergy and adequacy between the studies we provide and the needs of the company.”
He noted that UPF now sees itself as an international operator, with agreements signed with foreign partners. This global openness, he said, must go hand in hand with a clear, practical link to Morocco’s own corporate needs.
A regional platform for students
For vice-president Mohamed Ouazzani Jamil, the Forum RH is not only for UPF students but for the wider Fez–Meknes region. “Today we are welcoming companies as part of the HR Forum organized annually by the University of Fez for its students,” he said in an interview with MWN. “This forum is also open to students from all over the region of Fez–Meknes.”
He described the event as “an exchange space that allows students who are looking for internships, who are looking for a job, to be in direct contact with companies” and to be alerted to “new opportunities” and “new jobs” emerging in the Moroccan socio-economic landscape. The day combined conferences, a tour of stands, and organized visits that allow for more personalized discussions between students and partner companies.
“This policy is part of the strategy and the vision of our university,” Ouazzani Jamil added, pointing to UPF’s work on employability through meetings with companies, their direct participation in teaching, and dedicated modules designed to make students “operational on the labor market.”
A decade of HR Forum, with eyes on Africa
As the 10th edition of the HR Forum unfolded, the university’s leadership also looked ahead. UPF president Mohamed Aziz Lahlou summed up the institution’s wider horizon in one sentence to MWN: “The future of the world is Africa and the future of Africa is Morocco.”
With that line, the Forum’s discussions around internships, first jobs, and new skills were placed in a broader context. For UPF, employability is not only about helping graduates secure positions; it is also about preparing them to take part in Morocco’s role as a gateway and partner for a changing continent.
Over two days of conferences, meetings, and recruitment sessions, the HR Forum 2025 turned the Fez campus into a small job market of its own — a place where students could test their ambitions, companies could scout future profiles, and both sides could start to build the kind of synergy that organizers say will define the next decade.
Also read: UPF Launches American International Institute with ASU, Cintana Education
