The Nationalist Party noted Thursday that UMASA - which represents lecturers at the University of Malta - has just announced new actions in the ongoing industrial dispute with the University, as the Government and the Ministry for Education have yet to present a satisfactory collective agreement that meets its demands. This happened despite the fact that the current collective agreement has been expired since 2023.

As a result, UMASA is escalating its directives - actions that will affect more than 12,000 university students.

The directives coming into force call on academic staff to withhold the publication and/or submission to the University administration of examination results, assignment marks and thesis grades. Consequently, thousands of students - including Master's students expected to graduate next March - will be directly affected due to the Government's lack of action, the PN said.

These directives are in addition to others already issued, instructing academic staff not to participate in administrative meetings of departments, faculties, institutes, staff committees and boards, among others.

The PN said it regretted to note that this attitude is recurrent and symptomatic of a Government that consistently fails to conclude negotiations in a timely manner with representative unions in the education sector - as previously occurred in the case of the teachers' sectoral agreement and the collective agreement at MCAST.

As it did on those occasions, the PN once again expressed its disappointment that academic staff and thousands of students will be directly impacted.

For the PN, this situation is unacceptable, and the PN called on the government to take immediate action to resolve it. It is deeply concerning that after nearly three years of discussions, the collective agreement remains far from being concluded.

This situation already appeared to be creating a sense of tension, frustration and uncertainty among students and their representative organisations, as well as among academic staff more broadly.

The PN said it will continue to closely monitor developments in this case and stands ready to contribute in any way possible towards resolving this situation.