Algeria pushes universities toward English

Algeria’s Higher-Education Minister Bouzid Tayeb recently urged public universities to shift from French to English as the primary medium of instruction, a policy that will reshape how thousands of Algerian students and academics work. According to Al-Fanar Media, Tayeb told a national conference that Algeria’s reliance on French in higher education had limited graduates’ access to global research and international job markets.

The minister’s remarks came during a gathering of rectors in Algiers. He said students who learn in English gain exposure to journals, patents, and conferences outside the francophone sphere. “Students who study in English leave with qualifications that are more competitive internationally,” Tayeb told the assembly, quoted by Al-Fanar Media.

University rectors were ordered to prepare an implementation road map within six months. The policy targets first-year cohorts in select fields, starting with engineering, medicine, and computer science. Over a decade, the plan aims to expand English to 80 percent of Algeria’s 1.2 million university places, a target that will require 35,000 additional English-language faculty and new textbooks worth an estimated $400 million.

English competency among Algerian graduates currently stands at 12 percent, according to the minister’s data, a gap that correlates with lower patent filings—Algeria registered just 116 patents in 2022, versus 50,000 for South Korea of similar population size. Tayeb argued that shifting to English could unlock access to Scopus-indexed research, improve employability in multinational firms, and raise Algeria’s share of the global IT outsourcing market, currently 0.1 percent.

The change will ripple through Algeria’s $3.5 billion private tutoring sector, where 80 percent of summer cram courses are still offered in French. Course providers like Algerian Tutors and Oxford for Kids have already begun piloting English-medium STEM classes for high-school seniors.

For the Algerian diaspora, the policy signals a new channel for knowledge transfer. Engineers and doctors returning for short-term assignments can now mentor universities using the same professional language they practice abroad. The Ministry of Higher Education has invited diaspora academics to apply for visiting professorships under a “brain circulation” program that offers grants of up to $30,000 per semester.

At the University of Algiers, the Faculty of Electronics and Computer Science has begun converting its master’s programs to English, with the first cohort enrolling in September 2023. Dean Amina Benali said the move is expected to double the number of international students within three years, bringing in tuition fees from North Africa, West Africa, and the Middle East.

Private employers are also recalibrating. Sonatrach, the state oil company, has announced it will accept English-language engineering diplomas from next year, ending a decade-long preference for French. Meanwhile, Algeria’s largest tech incubator, Numeria, has shifted its incubation manual into English and is hosting hackathons with English-only briefings.

Education analysts caution that rapid change carries costs. Algeria’s French-trained faculty—three-quarters of university instructors—will need retraining. A national retraining fund of $200 million has been proposed, but disbursement is still under review by the Ministry of Finance.

Key takeaway for entrepreneurs
English-medium programs will create demand for English-language textbooks, e-learning platforms, and corporate training. Diaspora professionals can monetize short-term teaching gigs or curriculum design. Local tech startups should align their hiring and product documentation with English standards to capture international contracts.