This year, two rounds of the English Placement tests were held in an uncertain and unusual atmosphere on campus. In the past, student candidates were accustomed to passing both the General Admission Test (GAT) and the IBT TOEFL in their respective cities during both the April and June session, as a requirement to access Al Akhawayn University.
Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak, this process has been completely changed. The sessions’ divisions were no longer applicable since applications will stay open until September 14th. It was no longer possible to have those exams in the different agglomerations of the kingdom, consequently, hundreds of students and their families, including those living in cities from “Zone 2”, were invited to have the test at AUI. A very risky situation for both Ifrane and AUI’s staff and executives.
Additionally, requirements were accommodated to fit the current circumstance by omitting the listening section from the English Placement test, and by canceling the General Admission Test (GAT) without further notice.
It is important to note that the staff, along with the CLE mentors and executives worked very hard to make this experience a success, maintaining social distancing and other health regulations. Through conversations with both future AUIers and their parents, one concern was common among them all: The feeling of doubtfulness about their future situation and their dissatisfaction regarding the whole application process for Fall 2020.
“Not everyone could understand the process because it is not well explained… which could be stressful in some cases. Payments and application requirements were hard to understand and meet because the information provided was vague”
Israa, Fall 2020 newcomer
To this day, no official email was sent regarding the newcomers’ campus / academic situations. It seems like the university itself is caught in a whirlwind, where doubtfulness and indecisiveness are intertwined.
This set of circumstances are leaving us with an important amount of unanswered questions: Why giving Listening Language Center courses to students without examining them about the subject? Is the University going to hold the third round of the English placement test for September’s applicants? What should newcomers expect from Fall 2020?
