Cadi Ayyad University

Cadi Ayyad University, also known as the University of Marrakesh, is a public university in Morocco and one of the largest higher education institutions in the country. It was established in 1978 and runs a network of faculties and schools across the Marrakesh-Safi region, with campuses in Marrakesh, Kalaat Sraghna, Essaouira and Safi. Its faculties include sciences, letters and human sciences, law, medicine and pharmacy, and applied sciences, and about 41,669 students are reported to be enrolled in Marrakesh. Its link to space science is the Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey (MOSS) project, run from the Oukaimeden Observatory with a 500 mm telescope. Through MOSS the university contributed to the discovery of several astronomical objects, including the comet P/2011 W2 (Rinner) found on 25 November 2011, the comet C/2012 CH17 (MOSS) found in February 2012, a near-Earth asteroid detected in November 2011, and a third comet designated P/2013 CE31 in January 2013. The asteroid 2007 NQ3 also carries the university name.