A topic everyone seems to be talking about at the moment, and one I am quite heated about. So I will have a rant about what I think of it, what I understand the different bodies are saying and of course what should be happening but will not happen, because you know, students are not really catered for that much at this university since we are not paying for our tuition.
Yes that is indeed the problem, the main and ultimately the only problem we see that is causing this. Money, everyone needs money and to get money you need to work for it. Now different jobs give you different amounts of money. That's because they require different amounts of energy and work power, training and experience. One can say that working as a lecturer at a university is one of the hardest jobs to get. The exclusivity to get a post in Malta is ridiculous, and that's because the people who are in these place, just happen to be that good. I can talk from the side of the Faculty of Science, the lecturers there are some of the best around. Their knowledge and research is simply phenomenal, a lot will agree with me their teaching methods are not always the best around. But that's not their main job is it?
No abroad you get two people for the same thing, one would be teaching the students and training them to become graduates of the course, and an other would be doing research and training them in the practical side of the field they are studying in.
Why are is it afforded to have so many different kinds of lecturers abroad, well because people pay thousands and thousands of euros, pounds, dollars to be part of the universities. To be able to live in a flat, live on their own, still go out enjoy life, get to pay for their studies and then hopefully get their degree. What happens in Malta?
We all know this, everyone is already waiting for the next stipend, I don't need to say more, we get a free education, and above that we get given extra money to be able to study at university, yes we get from 80 euro to a 150 euro a month. According to what subject you study, but, but how does this effect university funding? A system which is run on the money of the government, the money from the yearly budget.
Quite badly I must say, it causes the lecturers to have a lower pay, to have less money available for research purposes, and less funding available for those who wish to partake into a further research at our university. I could point once again to the Faculty of Science, the equipment there for most of the undergraduate labs is so outdated, that I am sure if we look close enough we see our predecessors from 30-40 years ago inscriptions on the wooden benches.
Most of the innovation that occurs in our labs, comes from European funding. This is because the local government doesn't invest enough funding into the system, because he is funding us to continue our studies.
However, this does not mean that the lecturers can use us, this doesn't mean that they can bargain using our future. Our results, our hard work, a year working studying to get a pay rise, this does not mean they can hold us back from learning, and this is what's happening. This is what I am seeing happening, by holding back the results, by holding back our assessment, we do not know what will happen to us.
People like me, who are not that good at the writing part of our course, at the easement part. My skills lie else where, I enjoy the subjects, I love and adore studying, but I am not compatible with the system in place. That however is a story for an other time.
The story right now is this, there is a massive student body, still waiting for its results, and slowly getting angrier and angrier. The angrier the students will get, the more chaos will occur. I must actually congratulate the university organisations, mainly KSU for leading the students in such a controlled manner. Helping us to move as a unit work together to put the correct pressure and not go over board.
But then, then we are being ignored, we are being ignored when we are working in one of the most professional ways possible. Its true some results for the final year students, or those students which are having deadlines (I must say some with less then a week before) are being released.
The whole situation is what I could term to be a claustrofuck, are there any solutions? Short term, well yes the government gives in and give the lecturers what they are asking for. Long term? Long term I think its time to say good bye to our stipends, and a complete and total rework of our university structure.
Our university, has one of the highest standards around. Our exams are often called impossible by the international students who are brave enough to come here. The Erasmus students who go abroad and come back always say how easier it is abroad form here in Malta. We thus have one hell of a student body, and one hell of a lecturing body. Why aren't we making sure that our university is one of the best in the world by keeping it updated and up to the modern times.
