Any money pumped into our university set-up should be a sound investment in our younger generations from which our future society will be moulded and from where the country’s future leaders will sprout. Like any other kind of investment, even this type of investment can either yield excellent dividends, perhaps even beyond projected expectations, or, for various reasons, can turn out to be a total flop. So how has our university been faring lately? To answer this question it does not go amiss to delve briefly into its history and origins.
Take university life and students, then and now, for example. The University of Malta traces its origins to the founding of the Collegium Melitense in 1592 which was run by Jesuits. It was constituted by the Faculties of Theology, Medicine and Surgery, and Law. In 1578, Pope Gregory XIII empowered the Jesuits to confer the degrees of Magister Philosophiae and Doctor Divinitas. The University of Malta was ‘dormant’ twice, by the French in the 1798-1800 period, when it became an ‘ecole centrale' with separate schools for Medicine and Surgery and Theological studies, and by the Government of Malta in the 1980-87 period when it was substituted by a new university, at first called the ‘New University' and subsequently ‘The University of Malta'. Before the latter development, another milestone occurred when in 1964, the University moved most of its services out of the old 1592 premises in Valletta to a new campus at Tal-Qroqq, Msida. Since then, new faculties and interdisciplinary centres and institutes have been added and new areas of studies introduced.
The University was re-founded twice, the first time in 1800 after the French left and was revived by a Maltese Provisional government, the second time in 1988 when a new government did away with the University reforms of 1978-80. During this latter period, tertiary education adopted the student-worker scheme whereby employers sponsored students. Courses alternated between 6 months of study and 6 months of work. The policy of having a numerus clausus for entry into University was adopted and admission to the University was available for students who obtained a sponsorship to support their university studies.
It was, then, definitely a time when our university hardly yielded any dividends as it was open to only a few hundred students under Labour and the number of courses was limited. There was introduced the 20-point system, later reduced to 10 points, for students to enter University. Thousands of students were prevented from pursuing the careers they wanted back then. In 1987, we had a total reversal of policy and university students started to receive a stipend. The government of the day believed that an expansion of the opportunities for study at the post-secondary and tertiary level would eventually boost the economy as this would increase the skills base in the country. Indeed, the increase in the supply of graduates and young people with diplomas in a wide range of areas had led to the creation of work opportunities, as employers came to recognise that they could tap a labour force whose skills base had improved greatly.
Since then, the University has grown rapidly with an increase in the number of courses offered, diverse, new areas of studies offered to students, and a steadily growing student population. Following Malta's entry into the European Union, the University of Malta undertook a harmonisation process to bring its courses fully in line with the Bologna Declaration.
The financial position of today’s university students, who could not have yearned for more comfort and luxury than they have and enjoy nowadays, is in stark contrast to those of the pre-1970 era when university tuition fees were quite exorbitant. That notwithstanding, the University then churned out formidable graduates who mostly successfully carved out national and international recognition for our country. They were perhaps the glory days of graduates who achieved a lot with so little for that time.
Education should have positive benefits for the rest of society. If university education is left to market forces, there may be under-provision, and the economy may suffer from a lack of skilled graduates. Furthermore, in a free market, higher education would become the preserve of wealthy families who can afford to send their children to university. Therefore, there is a strong case for the government providing higher education free at the point of use. However, one must be careful not to go from one extreme to another.
I frequently encounter splashy photographs of private housing developments designed for undergraduates living near our University. As unlikely as it might seem to those of us who lived in cinder-block shoebox quarters as undergraduates and thought ourselves lucky, today it looks as if resort living has come to Campus. I see an increasing appetite for the luxury living among students. Increasing stipends, free public transport, free exam registration fees and other freebies.
University life seems to have changed by having more to do with socialising and hanging out than with indulging in serious reflection. Could it be that university education has become a very expensive farce in many ways for the taxpayer who pays to educate those who are not interested in studying, given the law and order issues sometimes associated with third-level students? Students spend long hours on their mobile phones having inane conversations about last night's bash where everybody got sick with boozing. Some of the more shrewd students are not even seen from one end of the semester to the other and only turn up at key times such as exams and conferrings.
Furthermore, boredom threatens to progress at the centre of university life as a result of an escalating emphasis on standardized tests, with the novelty of university itself fading with each grade. Often I perceive a lack of motivation and a transition from the tactile and creative to the cerebral and regimented. Could it be that there is a lack of teacher freedom with the consequence of a lack of student freedom, disengagement and tuning out? University students used to be called upon to see their learning as an investment that will give them direct benefits in the labour market. Yet, the relationship between educational credentials and their returns in the labour market has been changing in recent times. Perhaps too many graduates are being mismatched to their jobs. I heavily suspect that current university students often are not aware of their own skills and experience, or what different jobs require. So the Communications and Academic Skills Programme was a step in the right direction. They surely need more meaningful careers advice than currently is given. Politicians complain of a skills gap, but graduates face an experience gap, with many employers preferring to recruit young people who have spent a couple of years in the workplace rather than raw recruitments from university.
It would be an unfortunate time if our university arena becomes a playground for spoilt rich brats who are in it for a good time at someone else's expense. University life must never be allowed to be turned into a commodity that would leave a damaging effect.
Dr Mark Said is a lawyer