During a press conference, KSU officials gave an overview of a 500-page report they compiled on the council’s stand on the issue. President Paul Gonzi said the council disagreed with the introduction of a means test, adding that it would cost more than the maintenance grant system itself.

He said the council also disagreed with the system of loans that the students would have to pay back once they finish their university course. He said the maintenance grant scheme was a critical incentive for students to continue their studies.

Mr Gonzi said the council also disagreed with any changes to the smart card system, even though he insisted that this system should be reviewed to reduce abuse by students who purchase non-educational items with the money they are given.

Explaining the report in more detail, KSU’s education commissioner Anthony Camilleri said the council believes that the ideal maintenance grant system should be divided into three tiers: as an educational grant to cover education-related expenses incurred; as a social grant to cover part of the students’ cost-of-living expenses, which exclude education-related expenses, and as a wage awarded to those students who work as part of their studies, such as those following the nursing course.

Mr Camilleri said the implications of substantially reducing this system, which currently serves as an incentive for students, will result in the decrease of the number of entrants to university.

To this effect, the KSU conducted a survey to gauge how students would react to such a measure. The survey, conducted in June by Databox, was based on a random sample of 340 students.

With a proposed tuition fee of Lm100 per year, it is calculated that 166 fewer students would apply for university. With a proposed tuition fee of Lm500 per year, the number of students at university would fall by an estimated 1,079, while with an annual tuition fee of Lm1,500, it is estimated that there would be 2,524 fewer students.

Through a question proposing the idea of reducing the amount on the university smart card by half, the survey showed that this would result in 314 fewer students at university, while with a proposed halving of the amount on the smart card and half the stipend, an estimated 1,105 fewer students would go to university.

The survey also confirmed rumours that students were using their smart cards for items that were not strictly education-related. In fact, 30.4 per cent of respondents admitted to buying non-educational items with the smart card. An item that is widely purchased using this card is mobile top-up vouchers.

Mr Camilleri said the survey showed that reducing the stipend or introducing tuition fees would create significant academic hardship on the students following courses at university.

“For this reason, KSU cannot accept any programme of reform intended to reduce the subsidies given to students. This position does not mean that we would not support change aimed at rationalising the current system with the long-term aim of making the system more sustainable,” he said.

Mr Camilleri said the current rules determining eligibility for grants are fair. He said the council also believes that no changes should be made to these rules and that the law should be updated to include students and parents with EU citizenship who are legally residing in Malta without Maltese citizenship. He also said that guidance services at university should be greatly improved to reach out to more students, more quickly.

The educational grant presently consists of Lm600 at the beginning of the year and an additional Lm200 for every other year of the course. He said the council believes that those students following courses that are more expensive than others, should be given more funds than others who do not really need so much money.

Mr Camilleri also spoke about the university library which, he insisted, should have a separate budget to the normal university budget. He said that due to lack of funds, the library had stopped purchasing journals and new books and he insisted that these must be brought up-to-date.

On thesis expenses, Mr Camilleri said the council believed that every student has “the right to have the cost of his or her undergraduate thesis fully subsidised.” In view of this, the KSU was proposing the setting up of a body that would finance student thesis expenses and therefore own it and its results. In the long run, this body would be self-financing.

Currently, post-secondary students receive a Lm40 social grant every month while university students receive Lm60 per month. Mr Camilleri said this social grant should be retained at current levels even though the cost-of-living increase should also form part of this grant.

The KSU also proposed that in those cases where students have “proven financial hardship” the ceiling for the maximum grant should be raised to the level of the minimum wage. Moreover, rather than having one flat rate, this amount should be determined by the Student Maintenance Grant Board on a case-by-case basis, Mr Camilleri said.

He said KSU also believed that the social grant awarded by the Gozo Ministry to Gozitan students should be retained because research it had conducted showed that Gozitan students would be hardest hit by any changes to the stipend system and would have the largest financial burden of students at university.

With regard to students who work as part of their course, the KSU believes that the Lm30 additional “wage” should be extended to all students who work as part of their course and not only those following certain courses. Mr Camilleri said the present system is discriminatory as it recognised the apprenticeship-style nature of the courses offered within the Institute of Healthcare and ignored similar arrangements which exist with other faculties and departments.

On tuition fees, Mr Camilleri said KSU reaffirms its opposition to any form of tuition fee at any level of higher education. He added that, as European Union members, EU students attending university in Malta should not be charged any tuition fee. He added that KSU firmly opposes any scheme that would seek to by-pass the right of any students originating from an EU country to free tuition in Malta.

Finally, on university funding, he said the KSU believes that appropriate ways should be found of increasing the present 10 per cent revenue it generated, to 35 per cent. This could be achieved by increasing commercial activities.

Mr Gonzi said the KSU report has already been presented to the commission set up by government to re-assess the method of financing higher education. This commission, chaired by Rodrick Chalmers, with the participation of Peter Serracino Inglott, Ann Marie Thake and Jacques Sciberras, is preparing a report for the government on the matter.