The three student organisations representing law students at the University of Malta - ELSA Malta, GhSL and the Junior Chamber of Advocates – have expressed their concern on the overdue publication of a large number of dissertation results, as well as the late publication of several examination results.
The issue of University results being published in various faculties and departments is not a new one, with students facing such delays on an almost yearly basis.
In a joint statement, the three organisations said that “it is completely unacceptable that deadlines have been completely disregarded, subsequently breaching the University Regulations.”
“All results were meant to be published by the 31st of July with the deadline being extended to the 5th of August. Nine days later, students are still waiting for their dissertation results with little to no explanation or remedy given by the faculty whatsoever.”
The student organisations highlighted that whilst other results have been published, a significant number of such study units had their results published after the extended deadline.
“All 3 student organisations would like to point out a clear issue in the communication between the Faculty of Laws and its examiners. Such issues should in no way disadvantage the performance of students in re-sits sessions, nor should it prolong the stress of receiving results and its implication on the security of their place in the course.”
The statements goes further to highlight the issue of understaffing within the Faculty and notes that the lack of communication between the Faculty and examiners should not have a negative impact on students waiting for their results, who have no form of compensation to be given.
The statement calls on the Faculty of Law to not only publish pending dissertation results without further delay, but to also, due to the unacceptable delays in a number of result publications, take the circumstance into consideration in light of the September examination session.
“All 3 students organisations also call upon the Faculty to push towards extending the re-sit session dates or offering students adequate compensation. This stems from the fact that despite all examination results having been published, many results were published after the deadline imposed by the University. Such study-units include, Law of Property, Law of Obligations and EU Internal Market Law amongst others.”
The organisations requested that the faculty clearly stipulate any mechanisms which should be in place for Heads of Department and lectures which either do not adhere to certain deadlines, or do not respond to their faculty superiors.