A group of masters students at the University of Malta have expressed concern at being told that their examinations will be held with them physically present, after over two years of their lectures being held online.
One student in the Masters of Accountancy course said that in the case that one of those in the course gets stuck in mandatory quarantine or ends up testing positive for Covid-19, they would have to sit for their exams in September, implying that there is no option to sit for the exam online.
This would mean, the student said, that they will have to spend the summer not knowing whether they’d have graduated and that they may not have the possibility of a resit if they take the exam in September.
“We find this decision to be very unfair and unjust given that other courses/faculties at the University of Malta are giving the students the opportunity to sit for their exams online,” the student said.
He said that with Covid-19 cases on the up – Malta now has over 1,500 active cases of the virus, with over 300 cases reported in the last two days – they fail to understand how the faculty has chosen to impose physical examinations.
“There is a very high possibility of a student contracting the virus at the moment (simply from their family members, who all go to work), and spreading the virus with the other 80 students sitting in the same room, the majority of which would not have taken the booster by January.“
By refusing to give a practical option with regards to quarantine, the majority of students will prefer attending physical exams whilst sick rather than having to do them in September, the student said.
He said that the concerns had been raised with the head of department and other lecturers, but they fell on deaf ears.
“The department justified their decision by saying if exams are held online, this will prevent us from obtaining our warrant. However, exams are being held online globally, so we cannot understand why we should be any different,” he said.
He added that students are tired with these “injustices and uncertainties”, and that students deserve respect.