Morocco's healthcare exams: no licence test, one big residency concours

Medical and health education in Morocco

Medicine in Morocco has traditionally been a seven-year doctorate (doctorat en médecine), concluding with hospital clinical training and a thesis. A reform to shorten the cycle has been announced, so confirm the current length with the faculty. Pharmacy and dentistry are also long doctorates of about six years. Public faculties operate in Rabat, Casablanca, Fès, Marrakech, Oujda, Agadir and other cities, alongside private institutions such as the Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences. Teaching is mainly in French. The Ministry of Higher Education accredits programmes, and the Ministry of Health regulates practice.

Graduates register with the National Council of the Medical Order (CNOM) to practise as general practitioners, and there is no national licensing exam for them. The gate that shapes careers is the residency competition (résidanat), a ranked exam that decides specialty and city. Moroccan graduates from abroad require equivalence of their degree. Morocco also trains students from West Africa, who normally return home and follow their own national procedures. Confirm present requirements with the Ministry of Health and the Order.

In Morocco the exam that decides your career is not a licence

Readers often arrive asking for "the Moroccan licensing exam". There is not one that we could verify. A Moroccan doctor becomes eligible to practise through the diploma, the thesis defence and registration with the Ordre des médecins. What separates candidates is the concours de résidanat, a ranking competition. You do not pass or fail it against a fixed standard. You are placed, and your rank determines which specialty and which city you get.

That changes how you prepare. A licensing exam rewards broad safe-practice knowledge. A ranking concours rewards speed, volume and precision across the whole curriculum, because a few points move you dozens of places.

Who needs what

Moroccan graduates. Doctors register with the Ordre national des médecins after graduation. Nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dentists and physiotherapists register by diploma through the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and their professional body. None of these routes has a national MCQ gate that we could find.

Foreign graduates. A foreign diploma needs equivalence through the Ministry of Higher Education. Foreign doctors also need Ministry authorisation, and nationality and reciprocity conditions apply. The topic has been politically sensitive: Moroccan press has reported debate about recruiting foreign doctors and the Ordre questioning the scientific value of some foreign diplomas. Expect rules to be applied strictly and to change.

Doctors: the concours de résidanat

Regulator and organisers. Public faculties run the national residency competition through the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. Private bodies also run their own: the Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences (UM6SS) published a 2025-2026 notice, which is a useful look at the structure.

Format. That UM6SS notice describes written QCM answered on machine-read sheets. A first stage of four two-hour papers (anatomy, biology, medical pathology, surgical pathology) decides admissibility. A second two-hour stage, weighted by medical or surgical option, decides final admission. Candidates name up to three specialties in a chosen option: medicine, surgery or biology. The public national competition may differ in detail, so treat this as a model, not a guarantee.

Language. French. Moroccan medical teaching is largely in French, and the competition notices are in French.

Eligibility. Holders of the doctorate in medicine who are not already under contract with a state department. Check the year's notice for age limits and the number of attempts.

1. Complete the doctorate in medicine.
2. Watch for the notice. Faculties and the Ministry publish dates, specialties and seat numbers.
3. Pre-register online and choose your option and specialties.
4. Sit the QCM papers across the admissibility and admission stages.
5. Choose from the ranked list. Seats are assigned by rank; waiting lists exist in some options.

Nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dentists and physiotherapists

For these five professions we found no national licensing exam. Graduates register by diploma, with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and the relevant body or Ordre, and foreign diplomas need equivalence. Pharmacy and dentistry have their own Ordres. Internal faculty final exams are the real test and they are not national papers.

We could not open an official page confirming current registration steps for these professions, so ask the Ministry or your Ordre for the written procedure before you start paying for anything.

Exams at a glance

Language and recognition

French is the working language of Moroccan medicine and of the concours. Arabic is used in administration and public services, but the exam papers and most teaching use French terminology. If you studied in Arabic or English abroad, plan for medical French before anything else.

Recognition of foreign diplomas is a ministry matter, and doctors face an extra authorisation layer. For doctors who want to leave Morocco, the most common destinations are France and the Gulf. France's route for non-EU doctors and the Gulf's Dataflow plus licensing exam are separate processes with their own guides on this site.

How to prepare for a ranking exam

• Do volume, then review. Rank is built by avoiding errors on questions you should know.
• Time every block. The UM6SS papers are two hours each.
• Cover surgery and medicine equally until you know your option, because the second stage weights them differently.
• Keep a French terminology list if French is not your first language.

Public and private competitions are not the same exam

One detail catches candidates out. The Moroccan residency pathway is not a single national paper in the way some countries run theirs. Public faculties run the competition tied to the Ministry's training posts. Private institutions, such as the Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences, publish separate notices with their own registration windows, stage structure and seat numbers, and their diploma carries state recognition. If you apply to both, you prepare once but register twice, and the dates may collide.

The UM6SS notice we reviewed states that training fees for admitted Moroccan nationals are covered by the foundation. That is specific to that institution. Do not assume the same for others, and read the funding terms in each notice.

How the format shapes your preparation

A two-stage design means you can fail on breadth before your specialty knowledge is ever tested. The first stage in the UM6SS model is four separate two-hour papers on anatomy, biology, medical pathology and surgical pathology. Strength in one cannot rescue weakness in another if the coefficients are equal. Build a study timetable that rotates all four, with a review day each week.

The second stage is more applied. Its questions on urgencies and management reward clinical reasoning rather than recall. Mix case-based questions into your practice from the start rather than leaving them for the last month.

Practical points for foreign applicants

If you trained outside Morocco and want to practise there, the order of steps is equivalence first, authorisation second, registration third. Keep copies of every stamped document, ask for written receipts, and allow for administrative delay. Do not pay agents who promise to shortcut the Ministry. We cannot confirm any such service.

Finally, remember that Moroccan graduates comprise a major source of doctors for France. Those who plan that route should consider how their Moroccan French medical vocabulary maps onto French practice, and should start the French verification file in parallel rather than after the concours.

Last reviewed October 2026