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Julian Manduca
Malta is preparing to take on the added burden of non-paying EU nationals at the university when some university lecturers are unable to meet their commitments adequately because of a lack of financial resources, MaltaToday has learned.
While it has long been known that come 1 May, EU nationals wishing to study at the university of Malta will be able to enjoy virtually the same rights of their Maltese counterparts, according to some lecturers, financial constraints are already putting the university’s ability to meet its academic commitments.
The university authorities would seem to be ignoring the warnings of a report – see box – prepared by academics prior to the EU referendum in which it was recommended that the university staff be increased and fees be introduced for students.
While EU nationals studying at the university will not pay fees, they will however, not benefit from stipends - considered a social service – unless they or their families pay tax in Malta.
The University lecturers have not had an increase in their grants over the last three years - despite an increase in student population of 1,500 - and have been told they will not be getting more for the coming academic year. The university budget was slashed by Lm100,000 and recent collective agreement salary increases are to come from the its own funds.
According to Professor Edward Mallia, the impacts of the budget constraints have been “strong and immediate.”
Writing to The Times, Mallia said: “Departmental grants, never lavish, are down to a third of last year and much of that third is already mortgaged; petty cash takes an inordinately long time to arrive; placing of orders is slow and payment even slower; suppliers threaten not to supply; the library has no money for book purchases and maybe not even for copy paper; students are paying for equipment used in final year projects out of their own pocket with little hope of repayment.
“ No money is safe from depredation, be it work resources, research funds or even money from European sources. Calls on funds now travel on a conveyer belt covered with a thick layer of civil service treacle, designed not only to foil any rapid dispatch of business but also to render the process as opaque as possible.”
Not all have taken it lying down. Some lecturers have warned the university administration that they will not be able to take on more students, given their present resources.
Mallia took the University to task for not making its case for more money, and when MaltaToday contacted the
Rector his replies did not mention the need for more funds.
More admissions, including EU students will only exasperate affairs, and MaltaToday asked the Rector what the university was doing to prepare for the intake of students from the EU.
“The University of Malta strongly believes in the internationalisation of its campus and welcomes the presence of European students together with those from 70 other countries which at the moment constitute the international student population,” Roger Ellul Micallef replied.
“For the last four years it has been receiving Erasmus students for whom only registration fees have been waived and who have otherwise been treated exactly like Maltese students according to the Acquis Communautaire.
“Students from the EU member states enrolling to study full time at the University of Malta from 1 May 2004 will be treated exactly like the Maltese students. They will be able to follow a full course of studies without paying fees.”
However not all the benefits available to Maltese students will be granted to EU nationals. “These students will not receive a Maintenance Grant. Students from the EU will be expected to pay fees for postgraduate courses and evening courses,” Ellul Micallef said.
Asked what interest was shown by EU nationals, Micallef said “The University has already had many enquiries from European students wishing to come and study here in the next scholastic year.
“Since April 2003 the University has received a total of 488 enquires of whom 72 have subsequently applied to join a university course. It is still early to foresee how trends will develop in the coming years.”
The Rector is aware of the ever increasing student population, but would not be drawn to comment on how the university would cope with more, or what impacts more students would have on academic standards. “The University is aware that over the past decade its student population has been burgeoning. It has, within its financial constraints, taken steps to accommodate a larger student population. European and International students have become a very common and welcome presence on Campus.
“The 1 May will not bring any surprises as it will confirm the University’s International role as an educational hub within the Mediterranean region and within an enlarged Europe. In fact 175 Erasmus Bilateral Agreements have already been signed with other European Universities. These have resulted in the availability of 480 Erasmus Student exchange placements where the University of Malta has been able to participate actively in a balanced exchange of university students. This is expected to increase with participation in the Erasmus-Mundus and Tempus Programmes.
While the Rector did not state clearly that the university was in need of additional financial resources, he did indicate that problems could be looming.
“The University is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and will recommend to government the appropriate measures should developments indicate potential problems in certain areas.”
MaltaToday contacted education minister Louis Galea and asked him whether the government was planning to introduce some fee that would help the university cope with the influx of new students, but Galea failed to reply despite several reminders.
Come May 1 not only will the university be forced to accept new non-paying EU students, but will also lose the revenue from those students from the EU that are presently fee paying at the university.
Although there may not be many EU students at the university, it is clear that without additional funds, the university will not be able to continue offering the same standards to its students.
A committee chaired by Professor Josef Lauri in the run up to the referendum on EU membership had suggested the introduction of fees for university students. In its report the committee had realised that the influx of EU students would cause problems for the university and suggested either “raising entry requirements or raising fees.”
The committee noted that “even if no intake-reducing measures are taken, the influx of any number of EU students would still have an impact on the Maltese student who would have a lesser share of University resources (laboratory, canteen, library, lecture rooms, contact with lecturers etc).”
The committee pointed out that “in order to meet the increased demand the University will need to invest substantially both in physical and in human resources,” and “the staff/student ratio needs to be on average, between 1:10 and 1:15. This is already not the case with certain important faculties; increased numbers will only make it worse unless more staff is recruited.”
In its report the committee said that should fees be introduced, “the levels..should be considered very carefully.” It was explained that: “the fees should reflect the status of the University within a range of universities in Europe. If they are set at an unrealistically high level, then there is the risk that the University is viewed as not giving value for money. If they are set at too low a level, then this might give out a poor and false impression of our standards, and not only would a higher number of applicants be attracted but also that the majority of these would not be the quality students that the University would doubtlessly wish to attract.
In its report, the committee expected that a few hundred EU students would apply for full time courses within five to six years.
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