University and the EU

The influx of EU students wanting to study at our university would be an additional burden on our university education system, because these students would be entitled to free tuition too. This burden the university can hardly afford. Lawrence Gonzi, when questioned on this issue, said "today there are foreign (EU) students studying at our university. After membership, there will be foreign (EU) students studying at our university. What's the difference?" He said all this while smiling, too.

The difference which Dr Gonzi forgot is that today those foreign (EU) students pay good money to study at our university, mitigating somewhat the grave financial problem facing our university authorities and the government at present. If Malta joins the EU, those foreign EU students will no longer pay. And there will be many more attracted to come since free tuition at west European universities is almost unheard of!

Dr Gonzi's reply highlights the weakness in the government's arguments in favour of membership - even where the future of our tertiary education system is concerned. Dr Gonzi must accept the implication that once Malta joins the EU it must for good or bad adopt the standards and practices of the other EU countries. In this field it would mean that Malta would not afford to continue offering free university education to Maltese students as at present.

The introduction of fees seems a likely possibility and this would be to the advantage of students coming from richer countries within the EU. In Malta only the students coming from the richer families would be able to afford a university education.

In other words, entry into the EU would be the death blow to free university education for all in Malta, which has been one of the most successful measures of the past years.