Students’ council questions motives behind change in university law

The University Students’ Council (KSU) has questioned the government’s motives for lowering the requirements of educational institutions to get recognized as universities.

“Although we believe that attracting new educational investment, even from the private sector, is very positive, this should not be done in a way that reduces the standard of the institutions themselves, but rather should be in an effort to ensure that the islands retain their reputation for excellence in further and higher education.” KSU said in a statement.

A legal notice published on 8 May modified the Further and Higher Education Licensing, Accreditation and Quality Assurance regulations to allow any “accredited higher educational institute” to become a fully-fledged university if the National Commission for Further and Higher Education deems it to be “in the national interest”.

The new amendments also reduce the number of minimum fields from six to four, in which programmes leading to higher diplomas, Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees are offered. They also remove the requirement to have at least four fields in which doctorate programmes are offered.

The law was tweaked three days after the government signed a Heads of Agreement with the Jordanian construction firm Sadeen for the latter to construct the private ‘American University of Malta’. The law update will make it unproblematic for the NCFHE to green-light the AUM’s aspirations.  

“This raises questions on whether the lowering of requirements is due to the fact that the proposed University is not of an adequate education level or is just an economical investment,” KSU said, warning that the amended legislation can lead to a situation where lecturers are not involved in research activity and yet are giving research training, a change that would be “detrimental” to the University of Malta,

“The amendments will undermine the work done by the mentioned institution during the past years, to reach the level of a research centre, even though with limited resources,” KSU said.

They also expressed concern over the ‘national interest’ clause, calling on the NCFHE to ensure it remains an autonomous body without government interference when deciding what constitutes ‘national interest’.

They criticised Education Minister Evarist Bartolo for “leaving them in the dark” over the legal notice.

“For the past years, KSU members have been discussing issues regarding the Education Act with the relevant authorities,” KSU said. “Government’s agenda should not be concerned with the quantity of institutions present, but rather at the quality of the Universities created. We urges the Government to reconsider the amendments being proposed and to take a step back and discuss with the present educational stakeholders.”