Opinion • March 14 2004

Wake up sleeper

Anna Mallia accuses university lecturers of pandering to the wishes of politicians, suggests that the role of the university has been hijacked and makes a convincing argument for radical change at the ivory towers

There can be no restructuring in Malta unless this also includes the restructuring of our university. In effect restructuring as a change process in higher education is quite often assimilated to ‘reengineering’ in the corporate sector. In the twenty-first century, a big part of Malta is crying for restructuring because of lack of competitiveness, and on the other hand a university, who is Alma Mater (which in Latin means foster mother) idle and indifferent to the country’s needs. Just take a look at the number of students who are graduating and you will note that the centuries old courses such as law, medicine and teaching are still the ones that attract the highest number of students.
I do not hesitate to state that part of the crisis that this country is facing is partly due to our university. Its role has been shelved in recognition to the politicians that were instrumental in the appointment of many of the academic and other staff at the university.
The gratitude owed to politicians by the academia has rendered the university a fountain of votes and not a fountain of knowledge.
On campus one feels the conspiracy of silence. During the hot debate on EU membership, I expected the University of Malta to conduct constructive debates on the issue and to issue research papers. Nothing of the sort – instead most of its academic members joined the political bandwagon and parroted on the media what the government wanted them to say. I remember at the time attending the launching of a book on the EU at the University of Malta which was followed by a political debate and criticising the panel for not inviting a eurosceptic.
In effect little or nothing at law is done by the university to try to stir a debate in the country. Neither does it act as a catalyst to the government. Most of the time it is the other way round. The role of the university is now being taken by the government: the roles have been switched. Those of us who have studied at universities abroad know that in most cases it is the university that sounds the alarm bell to the government and not vice versa.
Abroad restructuring of universities is the order of the day and unless the University of Malta starts to address this issue today there will come a time when the Government will turn to it, as it is doing now with other government entitities, and restructure it its way and on its own terms.
Abroad the public, the private and the universities work together. They know that education is costly and that the taxpayer expects a return for its money. They know that people are beginning to make comparisons between economics of higher education and the health care and the pension systems. They know that people want to know they are getting a good return on their own and society’s investment in undergraduate learning. They know that these are not small issues and that the frustrations, even anger, they produce find expression in the government ‘accountability’ initiatives.
Their focus is mainly fourfold: to enhance student learning and student access; to reduce university expenses and student costs; to make work-life a positive experience and to meet the needs of the larger society. They address of issue of looming shortages in employment sectors that the country is facing or will be facing in a few years time.
In Malta our university seems to do nothing of the sort – or at least, we hear nothing about it at all. We led our students to believe that free education is a blessing from God and needs to be taken for granted, that the courses the university offers are a guarantee to their future, and that any graduate degree is a guarantee for employment. But this now has to stop before it is too late and before we are faced with another new spring wherein society (I prefer the term society to government) will bounce on the university and impose its restructuring measures for a return for its monies.
We know that overseas there are people trained who provide consultancy services to universities on how to restructure their courses to give a good return to the country and to the students themselves. In Malta if we already know we will be facing shortages in this or in that particular sector, the university must make sure that that sector is catered for by providing the courses and more importantly, by attracting students to those courses. The fact that the traditional courses are still the most popular with our students means that we have done nothing at all to change the traditional mentality. Either no effort is being made by the university to campaign for courses the qualifications for which are in demand in the employment sector – or there aren’t any.
I understand that restructuring a university is a very different approach to institutional change. I know that this means a systematic change in educational and administrative nature. But this is a challenge that the university has to face very soon and it is better to start now, before it is too late.