Another event which had to be reconfigured due to COVID-19 restrictions was the annual Option Subject Choice meeting at St Monica Secondary School in Birkirkara, which takes place in early April.
A number of UM academics and members of the Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Information & Communication Technology, the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Economics, Management & Accountancy, have resorted to participating in this event remotely through April and May.
Prof. Matthew Montebello from the Faculty of ICT held a live ZOOM meeting with Form 2 students on the topic of Artificial Intelligence.
Dr Alexandra Bonnici from the Faculty of Engineering also held a ZOOM meeting where she cleared some misconceptions about the Engineering profession.
Dr Karen Mugliett from the Faculty of Education, a regular contributor to the annual event, recorded a presentation with voice-over about the profession of teaching, which was later on uploaded on the school portal together with the other talks.
Dr Philip von Brockdorff from the Faculty of Economics, Management & Accountancy also recorded a session which was then made available to students, this time regarding the various career paths that can be undertaken that are related to the Economics, Management, Accountancy, Banking & Finance, Insurance, Marketing and Public Policy areas of study.
Ms Doriette Gauci, Assistant Head of St Monica School, said that “although we were constrained to hold our annual Option Subject Choice meeting online, we decided this was the best way forward and it resulted that this was a far better way of reaching the students and their parents. We will certainly consider holding meetings similarly in the coming years. A great big thank you to the academics for generously offering their time and availability.”