Tuesday, 24th June 2008 - 17:51CET
Final year university students to get exam results
The Malta Union of Teachers and the University of Malta Academic Staff Association said this afternoon they will be partially lifting their industrial action at the university so that final year undergraduate students can be given their exam results.
The unions earlier today attended a conciliation meeting with the University and Government negotiation team, in the presence of the Director of Industrial Relations and Employment.
"The unions declared that as a sign of goodwill, they would be lifting partially the directive on the submission of the academic year results, where final year undergraduate students were concerned, irrespective of the outcome of the meeting."
The unions are in dispute with the government over a new collective agreement.
They said they attended the meeting today fully expecting to be presented with the long overdue counter-proposals from the University.
"Unfortunately, the University has continued to withhold its proposals from the academic staff representatives, and no further progress could be registered during the meeting.
"Notwithstanding the negative outcome of the meeting, UMASA and MUT have decided to lift the union directives in connection with the publication of the results of final year undergraduate students. The unions however advise the academic staff to be on the alert for further advice and/or instructions."
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Comments
This depends on whether you intend to go for an honours in any major.
Like you I am a third year student reading for the B.Com degree...but we don't quite see eye to eye.
First of all..I don't think 3 years deserves the phrase "all these years". Besides being one of the shortest, which other course leading to a degree accepts students sometimes not even having a pass in intermediate pure maths, requires no submission of a dissertation, and coupled with a spoonfeeding frenzy?
Secondly if you are happy to have 'performed' your 'duty', I am not, as I don't consider furthering my education as a 'duty'. No one's pointing a gun to my head. I'm studying because I see the potential for growth and advancement. Perhaps you are linking
your 'duty' to study (the mentality prevailing at Secondary level education and lower) with the 'reward' you receive from the government? I have long ago shot myself in the foot by saying that stipends wreak havoc in the educational process rather than improve it (I too get it)...and this one just reinforces my view.
On the results...I would obviously want these out as soon as possible!
Chill mate, I was just pointing it out. ;)
Mario Vassallo: Can you please check about my results for a couple of study-units since it seems mine are amongst the few (based on what you said) that have not been issued!!
M Casha: Of course the only thing on the students' mind is to get "certificates/degrees". What do you expect me to have on my mind after 5 years of NOT being paid a stipend, paying for my education (as an evening student) and sitting for my exams? By the way...you call that easy...pull the other one!!
I strongly urge the government and the university to do their utmost to address the grievances of the lecturers and those concerned, rather than pay lip service to the problem.
Congratulations to the final year students and I understand that their need for results is more urgent. But the rest of us need the results too... so much for promoting equality.
I cannot help but think that this is a tactic by UMASA and MUT to decrease the power of the student’s voice. They noticed we were getting agitated and decided to satisfy the group, they felt were most dangerous and inclined to take action, the final year students, who had the most to lose from results not being published. In short they employed the old tactic of Divide and Conquer.
Though, I am still unsatisfied because lecturers, staff and unions seem to still not have learnt the important lesson to stop using students as a tool to voice their displeasure. They have a right to complain, do not get me wrong and they deserve good working conditions. But I was hoping that after this they would have decided to use other means to voice their displeasure in the future. Until they learn this, I fear that lectures and students uniting as one to stand up for each other’s rights, is not something we will see in the near future.
I have just resigned from UMASA, and all my students, final years and otherwise, will be getting their results tomorrow.
Mario Vassallo is a sociologist and a Professor at the UoM, hence his reasoning.
So what is KSU's stance regarding this modified directive? Why the silence? We've heard precious little from the student body that is supposed to be defending our rights.
Also, could MUT and UMASA be a little clearer about the directive? You could have elaborated a bit more on what constitutes a "final year student."
And finally, why cause an industrial dispute in the middle of our final examinations, when we're stressed out enough as it is, and when apparently you had over 5 years to negotiate?! We performed our duty as students by studying hard and so you should do your own duty as lecturers and hand out our results.