Facing a Disruptive Pandemic, Our Community Stood Tall

It has almost been two years since COVID-19 entered Morocco’s borders, forcing an energetic and ambitious country to lock itself down for months. Our livelihoods, habits, projects, reflexes and attitudes were all affected somehow by the pandemic. Historians looking at this era of ours will probably have enough material for thousands and thousands of archives.

But those who remember UM6P’s experience with the ordeal of the pandemic will tell a unique story: one of resilience, patience, sacrifice and triumph over countless challenges.

Complying with the national requirements of the lockdown, UM6P capitalized on its technological legacy to implement the very thing it has preached for years: impactful digitalization. Thanks to a healthy digital infrastructure, our students were able to continue pursuing their studies while complying with the lockdown. Those of us who have been here before the pandemic could also witness the progressive changes in our campuses in adaptation to what we now take for granted as precaution measures. Diligent, dedicated staff put the necessary distancing signs where necessary, and supplies of masks and disinfectants continue to be distributed sustainably throughout the community. But most of all, each and every one of us made the choice to comply responsibly with what are sometimes uncomfortable social and logistical rules. In these two years, we proved that a community is nothing but the sum of its members’ involvement.

Today let us also honor the other unspoken heroes of this pandemic at UM6P: our medical professionals at the Health Center. Their vigilance, constant reminders, updates and on-theground mobilization have been exemplary. Members of our community hit by COVID-19 could always count on round-the-clock quality medical care, along with confinement in comfortable conditions. We owe our Health Center a lot of gratitude.

Aside from taking care of its own, UM6P never lost sight of the bigger picture: accompanying its regional and national environments in managing the challenges of the pandemic. That too must be a source of pride for all of us.

At our regional base of Rhamna, farmers struggled to make ends meet due to the logistical & economic hurdles of the pandemic. Working hand in hand with cooperatives, UM6P spearheaded the distribution of masks and disinfecting equipment to alleviate the burden of their acquisition for agricultural communities. Building on its success with digital learning, UM6P also empowered its Moroccan counterparts to implement similar solutions.

Thanks to such partnerships, 14 other Moroccan universities benefit from a fully-fledged digital learning infrastructure assisting them in the continuation of their activities regardless of the pandemic. Exactly because of our community’s mobilization, UM6P reconnected with its wider networks of science, technology and ideas in 2021 through the safe and successful organization of the Science Week, Science Days and the African Congress of Digital Transformation. Just a year earlier, the organization of such flagship events with hundreds of attendees from around the world would have been simply unimaginable.

Our mission as national producer of solutions was also put to the test during this pandemic. Successfully so. Ever heard of NAFAS, the 1st Moroccan respirator designed for intensive care units? Well, its design was largely the fruit of UM6P’s labor through the active synergy between our researchers, 1337 and Youcode. Crises come and go, and COVID is no different. Yet even the toughest crises can also be turned into opportunities. These two years have not been easy. But today, we have all earned the right to take pride in how the students, professors, researchers, staff and leaders of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University chose optimism over fear, victory over defeat, health over sickness and safety over uncertainty.