Research Summary

Abstract:

This article examines the structural misalignment between translator education and labor market demands in Morocco. It evaluates the extent to which successive policy reform initiatives have resolved this gap. The study draws on a mixed-methods investigation of 329 Master's translation graduates from the 2020 to 2025 cohorts alongside 36 semi-structured interviews. It situates these empirical findings within the broader national policy architecture from the 1999 National Charter for Education and Training through the 2023 PACTE ESRI 2030 reform framework. The article argues that persistent graduate unemployment and professional displacement reflect a systemic configuration that has resisted successive reform cycles. The study identifies and empirically substantiates three dimensions of misalignment. First, the pedagogical dimension reveals that curricula remain predominantly theoretical and disconnected from professional practice. Second, the market dimension shows that the Moroccan translation sector lacks the regulation, geographic accessibility, and formal recognition necessary to absorb qualified graduates. Third, the policy dimension demonstrates that national reform frameworks have consistently prioritized general institutional metrics over the field-specific conditions that translator education requires. The article concludes with evidence-based policy recommendations that target curriculum renewal, sectoral market regulation, and the strategic repositioning of translation within national higher education policy.