How Universities Can Teach Undergraduates To Think Like Researchers: Lessons From Al Akhawayn University

A leading academic at a Moroccan university has set out a detailed framework for embedding research skills in undergraduate students, arguing that institutions focused narrowly on rankings and publication metrics risk overlooking a more transformative opportunity: producing graduates capable of navigating an uncertain and rapidly changing world.

Writing for Times Higher Education on 3 March 2026, Salah Al-Majeed, dean of the School of Science and Engineering at Al Akhawayn University, described how his institution rebuilt its undergraduate research culture from the ground up over a three-year period, and what other universities can learn from that process.

From Informal to Institutionalised

Three years ago, Al-Majeed wrote, undergraduate research at the school was limited and largely informal. Whether a student engaged with research depended on the initiative of individual faculty members, producing uneven outcomes across cohorts. Today, the picture is markedly different. Undergraduate students now co-author papers published in Q1 and Q2 academic journals and present their work at international industry conferences.

The transformation, Al-Majeed stressed, did not occur organically. It required deliberate institutional investment, leadership commitment and a fundamental rethinking of when and how research is introduced to students.

Embedding Research Thinking From Year One

The centrepiece of the reform was a new standalone research course added to the undergraduate programme. Rather than treating research as a final-year exercise, the course introduces students to research methodology and problem-framing from the outset of their studies. Importantly, it also asks students to consider how a research mindset can support entrepreneurship and social impact, positioning inquiry as a practical, forward-facing skill rather than an abstract academic exercise.

"We don't just want students to be workplace-ready," Al-Majeed wrote. "We want them to be more confident and able to deal with unexpected futures."

Faculty Empowerment as a Structural Driver

Alongside curriculum reform, the school introduced a faculty grant-writing support programme. Every research project that secured funding was required to involve undergraduate students as active contributors. The policy created what Al-Majeed described as a virtuous cycle: faculty gained resources and motivated research teams, while students gained authentic mentorship and hands-on experience that no classroom exercise could replicate.

The model also repositioned undergraduate research within the institution's priorities. Rather than treating it as an extracurricular activity, it became a recognised and valued part of daily academic life.

Connecting Research to Industry and the Real World

Al-Majeed was clear that relevance is not optional. Research proposals at the school must meet two criteria: they must connect to students' in-class learning, and they must address problems of genuine importance to employers across different industries.

Redesigned capstone projects now sit at the intersection of faculty research agendas, institutional goals and industry-defined challenges. An annual research summer school draws students from engineering, computing, data science and technology programmes to collaborate on problems that businesses are actively trying to solve, ranging from automation efficiency to sustainable digital innovation.

This cross-disciplinary model, he argued, reflects the integrative ethos of a liberal arts education: training students to see the bigger picture, not just to execute within a narrow specialism.

Making Student Research Visible

One of the most distinctive elements of the Al Akhawayn approach is its emphasis on public visibility. The school runs two events specifically designed to bring student research out of the laboratory and into the public domain.

At Innovation Day, students present their ideas to industry professionals and receive direct feedback on the commercial and practical value of their work. The Festival of Learning goes further, requiring students to demonstrate completed projects live before businesses and external partners. The goal, Al-Majeed explained, is to ensure research outcomes are seen and create change, not filed away in reports that no one reads.

Both events serve a deeper pedagogical purpose: they help students begin to see themselves as knowledge creators rather than passive learners, and they build the professional confidence and communication skills that employers consistently say graduates lack.

A Four-Point Framework for Other Institutions

For university leaders considering a similar shift, Al-Majeed distilled the experience into four actionable recommendations. First, research thinking should be embedded early and intentionally, with students encouraged to connect classroom learning to real-world questions from their first year.

Second, seed funding tied to undergraduate involvement is a powerful mechanism for building genuine faculty-student research partnerships.

Third, capstone projects and research initiatives should be designed for relevance as well as academic rigour, with industry partners informing the challenges students tackle.

Fourth, student research must be made visible through structured platforms for presentation and dialogue, both to build student confidence and to demonstrate institutional impact to the wider world.

Implications for Higher Education

The case Al-Majeed presents carries broader implications at a time when universities globally are under growing pressure to demonstrate the practical value of a degree. His argument is that undergraduate research, properly structured and institutionally supported, is not a cost or a distraction from teaching, it is one of the most effective tools available for producing graduates who are adaptable, analytically confident and genuinely prepared for professional life.

The experience at Al Akhawayn University suggests that the barrier to achieving this is less about resources than about institutional will: a decision by academic leaders to treat student research as a core commitment rather than a peripheral ambition.