Mohammed VI Polytechnic University

Mohammed VI Polytechnic University
Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique; جامعة محمد السادس متعددة التخصصات التقنية; ⵜⴰⵙⴷⴰⵡⵉⵜ ⵎⵓⵃⵎⵎⴷ ⵡⵉⵙⵙ ⵚⴹⵉⵚ ⴰⴳⵜⵉⵇⵏⵉ
	Entrance of the Rabat campus
Other name	UM6P
Motto	L’école de la vie
Motto in English	The school of life
Type	Private non-profit research university
Established	2013
Parent institution	OCP Foundation
Endowment	$213.5 million (2023)
Chairman	Mostafa Terrab
President	Hicham El Habti
Provost	Driss Ouazar
Students	4,562
Doctoral students	512
Address	Lot 660, Hay Moulay Rachid, Benguerir, Morocco; 32°13′08″N 7°56′08″W / 32.2188°N 7.9355°W
Campus	Main suburban campus in Benguerir with antennas in Rabat, Laâyoune, Paris and Montréal
Website	um6p.ma

Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P; French: Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique) is a Moroccan non-profit private research university. Its main campus is located within the Green City of Benguerir. Centered on African development, the university is oriented towards applied research and innovation and is engaged in regional economic and human development. The university has a second major campus in Rabat (on the municipality of Salé),^[2] and antennae in Laâyoune and Paris.^[3] A suburban campus is set to open in El Jadida in 2034.^[4]

UM6P hosted its first cohort of students in 2013 on its Ben Guerir campus before being officially inaugurated on January 11, 2017.^[5] It has ambitions to become a leading research institution for collaborations between Africa and Europe, and hosts the most powerful supercomputer in Africa.^[6]

UM6P federates a number of schools and research institutes, some of which predate the existence of the university. It has numerous international partnerships with universities around the globe, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia Business School, Max Planck Society, HEC Paris, Mines ParisTech, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, McGill University, and Sciences Po.^[7]

History

The university emerged as part of the "Green City" project, a major urban development project located just outside the historical city of Ben Guerir with the aim of creating a model city of sustainability, with a special interest in promoting research, education and development in Africa.^[8] In 2012, the construction of the university was launched and began operating one year later, in 2013. Over the course of the following years, numerous Schools and research centres were founded or integrated into the university.

In 2021, UM6P launches Africa's most powerful SuperCalculator for scientific research and innovation. The power of the African Supercomputing Center - with a capacity of 3.15 petaflops at a rate of three million billion operations per second - gives Morocco and more broadly for the African continent the opportunity to breakthrough in scientific research and innovation in all areas.

Also in 2021, UM6P inaugurated its campus in Rabat, designed like the one in Ben Guerir by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura. That campus's main auditorium (French: centre de congrès) was inaugurated in September 2023.^[2]

Research and Ranking

The UM6P's mission and research focus is strongly focused on advancing research and innovation as well as promoting development in Africa. It collaborates with several institutions in African countries and has set up experimental research platforms and applied research laboratories with partner universities across the continent. Among UM6P's prominent research laboratories is MSDA.^[9] MSDA stands for Modeling, Simulation and Data Analysis and specializes in mathematical and phenomenological modeling, numerical simulation and data analysis.

UM6P is ranked among the Top 500 in the 2025 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. As the best ranked university in Morocco & North Africa, this achievement highlights their dedication to research, innovation, and academic excellence.