Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (AUI) and Leyton, a multinational consultancy, signed a historic agreement to create hybrid jobs for AUI students to work on international consultancy projects while attending the university in Ifrane. The new program called Leyton@AUI begins this year with students working part-time, remotely, as scientific consultants for Leyton’s consulting teams, while continuing classes and degrees full-time.
As part of its missions, AUI is committed to empowering its students to manage their career success and their well-being. This latest innovation Leyton@AUI allows AUI 2nd year to final year students from all disciplines (Engineering, Business, and Humanities) to benefit from priceless work experience with a global consultancy focused on innovation and R&D while attending classes in Ifrane.
AUI President Dr. Amine Bensaid signed the first ever hybrid work agreement saying: “AUI believes that students need to discover their future(s) while they go to university, but young adults can’t discover it unless they work in the real world. With Leyton, we’re delighted to innovate together so that our students can experience the real world of global consulting while attending academic classes at AUI. We are pleased our English-speaking students can leverage technologies to begin working with a multinational consultancy firm for International clients remotely in hybrid mode. And we are honored to be chosen by Leyton to launch their first-ever hybrid work scheme at a global University.”
Founded in 1997, Leyton is devoted to the technological, ecological, and socio-economic development of organizations. Leyton’s consulting teams are experts whose main mission is to help businesses leverage financial incentives in order to develop their innovations and accelerate their growth. Leyton employs more than 2300 talents in 14 different countries, with 730 based in Casablanca. The Moroccan subsidiary gathers the biggest workforce of the group with 60% of women and more than 450 (62%) engineers and/or doctors. In response to the international growth of the Group, Leyton Morocco plans to double its workforce by 2025 to reach 1,400 employees, 80% of whom will be engineers and/or doctors.
Leyton’s Head of Consulting for the United Kingdom, Ms. Elena Karadzhova, personally traveled to Ifrane to meet with over 200 students who signed up for the program on the AUI campus. She explained the benefits to Moroccan students. “We know your generation wants to improve the world and we do too - that is what Leyton does. With Leyton@AUI, you can be part of that while you are attending classes. After Covid-19 shut down, we all began working remotely. We can mentor you and lead you to be successful, while working remotely. We are confident that your AUI training, your intellect, your open-mindedness, and your proactive mindsets will complement our teams of technical experts who bring precise answers to specific challenges while providing long-lasting process recommendations and financial leverage to innovative businesses pushing the boundaries of today towards a better tomorrow.”
Leyton’s Partnership Director, Dr. Hassan Ait El Madani, is a Moroccan of the world. Dr. Ait El Madani developed and signed the agreement and explained Leyton’s motives by saying: “Leyton is a leading entrepreneurial and innovative consultancy. Today, we provide services in 13 countries to over 24,000 customers and continuously innovate to meet their needs. We have been a hiring partner of AUI since 2016, and we seek more talents like AUIers to serve our clients across the world. The employability and the empowerment of young generations are in LEYTON DNA and we are proud to offer Leyton@AUI to AUI students as an opportunity to use their proficient English, agility, and innovative spirit with our international projects. This alliance between AUI and LEYTON Morocco is strategic as it is part of our long-term commitment to the sustainable development of talents in Morocco. The Leyton@AUI program offers us the opportunity to radically diversify training paths for better talent employability. It is therefore an honor for us to formalize this strategic partnership with AUI.”
AUI’s Chief of Employability & Entrepreneurship, Deborah Bartlett, explained the benefits to multinationals and students: “AUI brings multinationals as well as leading Moroccan companies regularly to network and hire AUI students. For these leading firms, the classic “internships” and “Job Fairs” are frankly not meeting their needs to find and retain talent. Instead, multinationals (both Moroccan and international) benefit from these AUI innovative programs because they enable them to find strong talent earlier in this competitive environment. For AUI students, they benefit by complementing their academic training with real-life work experience which accelerates their success into the marketplace after graduation. For example, Leyton@AUI launches this year for AUI students from all engineering, business and humanities programs. Leyton@AUI joins a portfolio of work opportunities that AUI is offering its students, such as our Co-Ops (Alternance) programs with multinationals from Singapore, Germany, France, and Morocco.”