The number of students joining the University of Malta would suffer a drastic decline if stipends were reduced or tuition fees introduced, according to a study by the University Students Council (KSU).
The survey results suggest that introducing tuition fees would reduce the number of entrants and create significant academic hardships to students pursuing courses at the university. The students were asked whether they would still go to university if the stipend system remained as it is but students had to pay Lm100 a year, Lm500 a year or Lm1,500 a year.
About 64 per cent of the students said they would not be deterred by a Lm100 per year tuition fee.
On the other hand, only about 27 per cent of the students said they would enter just the same with an Lm500-a-year fee. About 40 per cent would think about it carefully while 17.4 per cent said they would definitely not join the university.
As expected, even fewer students, 12.4 per cent, said they would go to university if the yearly tuition fee were to be set at Lm1,500. About 42 per cent said they would not join and 17.1 per cent would have to save up to do so.
Under half of the students surveyed said they would join the university were their present grants to be halved. The survey was carried out by telephone among 340 students from all years.
The KSU has come up with a number of proposed reforms of the student maintenance grant system which have been forwarded to the working group set up by the government in April to review government financing of the higher education system.
The working group, headed by Roderick Chalmers, has been asked to report on the resources available at all state-funded higher educational institutions including the Junior College, the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology and the University of Malta. The brief includes a re-assessment of the stipends system.
At a press conference yesterday, KSU president Paul Gonzi and officials Anthony Camilleri and Leonard Bonello said the issue of maintenance grants and tuition fees had appeared in a report that was being discussed at the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.
"The issue should not be discussed at MCESD level. A working group has been set up for the purpose and the financing of higher education institutions should be left to it and not to the MCESD," the KSU said.
The KSU holds that the ideal system would be divided into three tiers: an educational grant to cover the students' educational expenses; a social grant, aimed at covering the students' cost of living excluding educational expenses, and a wage awarded to those students who work as part of their studies.
"The whole system serves as a critical incentive for students to take up higher education," the KSU said.
The KSU believes that the current rules determining the eligibility for grants are fair. However, the law should be updated to include non-Maltese students from the EU but living in Malta.
With regard to the educational grant, according to which students currently receive Lm600 at the beginning of the first year and an additional Lm200 yearly according to the duration of the course, the KSU believes that there are deficiencies in "both the form and the content of the delivery of the grant".
The survey data proved that students in different courses spend different amounts of money from their smart card. "The KSU believes that the current system should be reformed to encompass a scheme whereby students following different courses would be given a different amount of smart card allocation according to the expense involved to follow the particular course."
University students currently get a Lm60 monthly grant while students in post-secondary institutions get Lm40 a month. The amount is doubled in the cases of proven financial hardship.
"Though the cost of living has increased since the system was reviewed in 1998, the KSU understands that the country is not in a happy financial situation and we don't expect the government to compensate for inflation. However, we think that these grants should be kept at current levels."
Another aspect that should be considered was the financing of the library. The KSU said the library had stopped buying some important academic journals because its resources were limited. "Our suggestion is that the financing of the library should be a matter that is treated on its own."