Following the global Covid-19 outbreak, universities all over the world closed their campuses and opted for online learning. The situation may have been similarly risky to student activities but it still presented itself as an opportunity during which student engagement only grew in numbers.
Meanwhile, at Al Akhawayn University, clubs such as Moroccan Politics, AUI Trader’s floor, and Friends of Migrants dedicated their effort and energy into bringing the campus experience to each person’s home, including non-AUIers, as many activities were accessible to the public.
An overview of MPC, AUI Trader’s Floor, and Friends of Migrants:
Moroccan Politics Club (MPC) is one aimed to raise political awareness among students. The club aims to achieve said-goal through panel discussions, conferences one of which the Youth Forum, and weekly student-led discussions- DemoAtay.
Friends of Migrants as a club is about helping migrants integrate and understand Moroccan society. The clubs mission focuses on allowing migrants to know people from different cultures and helping student volunteers to gain empathy and a spirit of altruism.
AUI Trader’s Floor is concerned with making complex financial instruments better known to students using webinars with experts in fields of trade, finance securities, and quantitative analysis in addition to talks organized as courses adapted to the receivers’ levels.
What motivated clubs to stay active during quarantine?
For Souilem Souilem, the MPC president, being active during such hard times was, in brief, a moral obligation. The club’s mission by itself focuses on making students part of the decision making by cultivating their critical thinking process than making it specified to the political course both global and nationally. As Souilem puts it: “the pandemic raised important issues that had to be discussed and letting go of DemoAtay would have been a loss, it was about keeping the momentum going”
Friends of Migrants work is mainly directed towards teaching English to migrants who had limited access outdoors as it is a helpful tool in getting started in the job market, therefore teaching during quarantine was a must to keep both motivations and hope to go as stated by Hiba Benkhraba, the club’s president.
Since AUI Trader’s floor was a freshly created club once the pandemic started, keeping activities going was oriented at interest and reach. During its first months of presence, the club struggled to hold activities due to the then-going midterms and the conflicting schedules between students and professors, however, with the online shift, such inconveniences were minimized allowing for more reach. “We were able to not only feed interest but create it” said Imad Akabli, the club’s founder and president.
What activities were held?
MPC, Friends of Migrants, and AUI Trader’s Floor saw social networks and media a blank canvas each one of them turned in their unique way, into a great asset towards achieving great results.
DemoAtay, a long-standing tradition in Moroccan Politics Club was able to survive quarantine as board members honored it weekly through team meetings in Microsoft Teams. The topics of discussion included but were not exclusive to the Project of Law 22.20, the economic impact of the global pandemic on Morocco’s economy, etc.
Distance tutoring allowed friends of migrants to release their creativity as they aimed to combine the useful with the pleasant. Quizzes, tests, and weekly sessions were joined with activities, games, and even songs to make the most out of the learning opportunity.
“The best part about e-learning is we were able to share information even if we are in different cities”
Hiba Benkhraba, Friends of Migrants president.
From talks to IG lives, webinars to Facebook Lives, AUI trader’s floor did it all as the board members were not kidding about aiming for a high reach. Dr. Bouarich, a well-known professor among the AUI community, initiated the club’s activities, by laying down the keys for a successful career in finance drawn from his own experience working at HSBC Global Banking and Markets in London. Numerous activities followed by focusing on Portfolio Building, financial quantitative analysis, and others.
What’s Next?
One thing is certain for all clubs’ presidents and members, no online experience would make up for the face to face interaction. By being physically on campus, sharing information was only one of the reasons behind student engagement, as creating human links was on the same level.
With the ongoing fluctuation of the epidemiological situation in Morocco, many uncertainties are in play. Therefore, when asked about their strategy for Fall 2020, Souilem, Hiba and Imad, share one concern, which is to not be able to keep up with the new normal.
