New university rector on €150,000 salary

The University of Malta’s recently-elected rector, Alfred Vella, is one of Malta’s highest-paid public sector men, pocketing a €150,000-a-year salary for the top job at the university.

His salary is considerably more than his predecessor’s, Juanito Camilleri, who apart from his professor’s salary of at least €70,000 in 2015, was also paid €54,000 as part of his consultant’s role to the Office of the Prime Minister.

Prof. Camilleri was prised away from the private sector in 2007 where he captained telecoms firm GO plc, spending 10 years at the helm of the University. Apart from a new ICT faculty under his tenure, Camilleri saw three other faculties come into being that previously existed only as institutes or centres of learning.

A professor at the University of Malta is paid €73,139, while an associate professor is paid €62,021 and a senior lecturer €50,656.

The pro-rectors, sociologist Prof. Godfrey Baldaccino, head of the international relations department Dr Carmen Sammut, and head of the marketing department Prof. Tanya Sammut-Bonnici, receive a €25,000 annual allowance together with the salary according to their substantive status.

In addition, the pro-rectors are entitled to a top-up of their health insurance policy and mobile telephony services. The University rector is also entitled to a university car, telecoms services, and a top-up of health insurance.

Prof. Vella, a chemistry expert, was pro-rector together with Juanito Camilleri, and won the consensus of the deans of all the faculties at the University of Malta. The other contender for the job was Godfrey Baldacchino, professor of sociology and board chairman of the Centre for Labour Studies. The deans do not elect the new rector but their support carries significant weight.

It is the University council that elects the rector for a five-year term, which includes members appointed directly by the government.

Prof. Vella has commented that the University’s stipend system for students, which costs over €24 million, is probably not sustainable. He has suggested a specific entry requirement, such as a qualification in the Maltese language, to qualify for the stipend. “I don’t think it unreasonable for the University of Malta, as a State university, to demand knowledge in academic fields that would include Maltese… Basically, you will get a stipend and a free undergraduate education without fees if you know Maltese… We have to obviously see what can be done legally and within the EU framework,” he had told The Times.

This would exclude students from EU member states and lead to the number of paying foreign students increasing exponentially. “I would consider anything and everything that allows visiting students to come to the university and pay for the services they receive without inflicting any pain on local students,” he said.