How to kill off a university

The financial situation at the university has deteriorated drastically in recent years. As a professional organisation concerned with its wellbeing, the University of Malta Academic Staff Association has been voicing its concerns both within and outside this institution for as long as funding has been a problem.

Pleas to "save our university" have fallen on deaf ears. Serious political discussion on the funding of the university has been delayed unduly.

The most important matter in the eyes of the politicians, student bodies and the public seems to be the question of student stipends, a social service, not in any way connected to the financing of the university.

Increasing student numbers have inflated the "stipends" bill. The rise in the bill has been mistaken for an increase in the university's budget. Nothing can be further from the truth. The university has had to cope with a larger student body and decreasing funds.

It is a fact of life that the university cannot continue to function with the current funding level. It is now becoming impossible to sustain teaching, let alone research.

Unless there is a change in the current funding system that would reflect the number of students attending and, also, the courses being followed, standards are going to be sacrificed to the extent that students will be asking themselves: "What good is it for us to receive a stipend if the university cannot guarantee a high standard of tertiary education?"

Given the country's financial situation, it is unfortunate that abuse in the stipend system is so rampant among students (as confirmed in the KSU report) and that funds are being channelled away from university resources to accommodate the worldly needs of the students.

Time and time again, academics have voiced their chagrin at shoestring or virtually non-existent faculty budget allocations and a library that cannot afford to keep its collections up-to-date and is forced to suspend subscriptions to learned journals.

This is reflected in all other university departments, where some laboratories cannot even afford to make the necessary changes to function up to acceptable safety standards, where research support is miserable and academic and support staffing levels inadequate.

This is happening at a time when our personal dedication - and nothing else - has been responsible for placing the university in a relatively good position to take up the opportunities provided by the internationalisation of higher education.

While student numbers continue to grow, staff who leave are not being replaced. There are just no funds available for research, an integral part of any serious university that distinguishes it from a glorified post-secondary school.

Lack of research funding will make it difficult to join EU research programmes. The university and the country will find it hard to benefit from EU research initiatives. Some seem to think that by simply increasing the commercial arm of the university, academics can reverse this downward trend in the financial situation.

Our reply to that is to think again, putting aside all political prejudices. Certain people need reminding what a university is or should be.

This is a plea to our politicians to take the university seriously. It cannot be said that there has been no warning.

The writing is on the wall. The morale among academics has reached an all-time low.

Unless drastic action is taken with urgency, there is going to be a massive brain drain as had happened under a different government in the 1970s. Who will then be responsible for bringing about modernisation and progress in this country? Who is going to provide the necessary high specialisations required to promote a modern and forward-looking economy?

UMASA wrote to the Prime Minister to ask for an urgent meeting three months ago to discuss these extremely important issues. Up to now we have not even received an acknowledgment to our letter.

We have not been consulted by MCESD while preparing a proposal to the government regarding university funding. We learnt of this from the press. In the meantime, a short-term remedy for a moribund university is needed immediately if we do not wish to face the risk of suspending a number of courses this year.

One is therefore forced to question whether the government is really leaving no stone unturned in its quest for a solution to the university's funding problem.

Prof. Xuereb is public relations officer, University of Malta Academic Staff Association (UMASA).