Over 1,000 university students have appealed to the University of Malta Academic Staff Association (UMASA) to call off their industrial actions, in a Facebook campaign.
Kunsill Studenti Universitarji (KSU) president Anthony Camilleri kick-started the Facebook group, which expresses disappointment at the industrial measures adopted by the UMASA and the Malta Union of Teachers.
The unions issued a directive to all members to withhold results from publication until further notice.
Thee Facebook initiative, called ‘Stop the Nonsense’, says that any delay in the release of the results could disrupt preparations for any September re-sit sessions and even “loss of places for employment, mobility programmes or further studies.”
The group called on the unions to drop the directives and urged the University rector and the Minister of Education to open negotiations and demand an irrevocable promise for the timely release of results.
The students said they supported the right of academic staff to proper remuneration and decent working conditions.
The KSU has since held meetings with rector Juanito Camilleri, and UMASA president Victor Buttigieg, and said in a statement yesterday that it had also established a direct link of communication with the Ministry of Education.
The minister will be meeting with the president of UMASA in the coming days, while the Minister of Finance is seeing to setting up the negotiating team in question as soon as possible.