Hassan Errami, a Moroccan professor and researcher in computer science and mathematics, was able to change the stereotype associated with immigrants in Germany. He made himself a name in the field of research in the country, after a long journey of studies. Hassan Errami, a Moroccan immigrant, was born in 1976 in Tanalt, a small village in the province of Chtouka Ait Baha. When he turned five, he moved to the city of Kenitra with his parents. «My father cared a lot about our education and that is why he decided to move to Kenitra, to give us the best education he could afford», Errami told Yabiladi. After moving to Kenitra, Errami felt like a fish out of water. «In the beginning, it was hard to cope with children my age at school. I spoke Amazigh while they spoke only Arabic and it took me a few months to be able to adapt», he recalled. In 1994 and after graduating high school, Hassan Errami decided to move to Germany. He opted for computer science as a major at the University of Bonn. «After joining college in Morocco for two years, I decided to go to Germany to finish what I had started», he said. For that sake, he enrolled in a language center to learn German to be able to join the university. Studying in Germany The Moroccan researcher was faced with several obstacles and difficulties. «I was able to finish my German language studies but I couldn't get a visa for the third time in a row», he recalled. Fortunately, his fourth attempt was accepted and he was granted a visa to start his academic career in Europe. In 1999, he landed in Germany, most precisely in Cologne. «It was not easy, as I had some problems related to housing, before I was accepted on-campus in Bonn, the city where I went to college», he said. Before entering university he had to «pass the qualifying year, in parallel with that I took up small gigs, like waiter, painter and others, to get by». Only a few months after arriving in Germany, in late 1999, the student met a German woman and married her. «Although this was not planned, fate brought us together», he said. Hard work was behind his success at school. The Moroccan researcher was able to get a degree in 2004 in computer science, then in 2008 he obtained a master's degree in the same field of studies. Meanwhile, the Moroccan researcher started preparing for his PhD in mathematics from the University of Kassel, where he «worked at the time with distinguished researchers from inside and outside Germany and shared our experiences with each other». In 2014, the Moroccan professor and researcher published an English-language book entitled «Efficient Methods for Symbolic Analysis of Complex Reaction Networks», in which he attempted to summarize the research he did during his Ph.D. In 2017, he was nominated for the Diwan Award, organized by the Moroccan Embassy in Germany as well as the Moroccan Competencies Association for residents of Germany, «and was selected as the best Moroccan competence in the field of computer science». Hassan Errami, now a father of three, told Yabiladi about his love for his homeland and said he and his wife had planned to return to Morocco, «but we have abandoned the idea now, because this decision is not easy especially for our children».
