The people's university

The recent industrial dispute registered by the University's academic staff has triggered an interesting debate about the role of this institution in today's society.

During their recent visit on campus both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition spoke about their "vision" for a modern University. The Prime Minister highlighted the need for the University to educate the workforce and attract foreign direct investment. The Leader of the Opposition stressed that the students had strategic concerns and questioned where the University was headed.

But the most interesting comments were made by the students themselves. They want to see more motivated lecturers who can change the current system to make it a hands-on experience and a system that looks beyond job-preparation. They feel that "the educational role of the University ought to be given priority. There is the need to change the lecturers' mentality so that they realise that their role is to educate and not merely impart skills that will land students a job. Achieving a better quality education is not about salaries, it is about changing the culture of the institution".

This was also the emphasis made by the rector of the University himself. The University had to undertake a re-thinking exercise in order to re-dimension its role to make it relevant to the society's present and future demands. In lay language, one would expect that the voice of the University is also heard on issues that are highly influential on society at large. Unfortunately, there has been very little academic contribution to the ongoing public debate on issues such as the global financial crisis, the economic and social impact derived from the proposed revision of water and electricity tariffs, the issue of divorce, sustainable development and the electoral system, to name but a few.

Surprisingly, in this day and age, the University is still perceived as an institution detached from the people. If you were to stop most people in the street and ask for details about the University, they would struggle to provide you with even the most basic information.

If you were to ask them what they thought the role of a university, in general, was in 2008, most would not even be able to start to address that. In the past, universities were about intellectual pursuit and they educated a very privileged minority. Their activities were hidden and unengaged with the outside world. Things could not be more different now. Yet, we still see our University as distant and not engaged in the present and future of our community.

Notwithstanding the limited resources, our University managed to evolve and open its doors to thousands, as against a few hundreds, of students while at the same time enhancing its potential and standing as a widely-recognised tertiary education institution. With 10,000 undergraduates, professional staff and improved facilities, our University is not inferior to any other renowned University. It is fully equipped to provide our students not only with the acquisition of knowledge but also with the intellectual, social and cultural development that is so crucial. Surely, this is a great achievement but that is not enough.

Perhaps, now we should make another quality leap forward in following other universities that have undertaken a new role recently - that of an economic force by their knowledge transfer and spin-off commercial activities.

Our University must recognise its role in the national economy and should commit itself to work with key partners to plan the future of our country. Foreign universities had set up a research and enterprise directorate to focus on this particular role. Why shouldn't we?

The same goes for the University's commitment towards the social and cultural development of our society at large. What is the University's cultural strategy? In this respect we are accustomed to the initiatives taken by voluntary organisations and very little is produced by our University. The University should take the lead. By its nature it should be the catalyst in cultural inspiration and social development.

Our society is in dire need of knowledge creation and innovation... and that's the role of our University - a people's university!

matyas@maltanet.net