The untouchable student stipends

Some months ago, most of us having a particular interest in international news, undoubtedly witnessed the huge student protests taking place in front of the Houses of Parliament in London. And all this did not just happen because certain student support schemes have been reduced or removed, but because University fees were allowed to increase dramatically from 2012 onwards, at the expense of future generations that will have to bear the huge brunt of bigger debt burdens.

On the other hand, we have a totally different situation in Malta, at least for the time being. However, we know very well that comments on the issue of stipends and the importance of orienting public spending towards more investment objectives, have all recently been on the increase. In a nutshell, what the Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, and the rector of the University of Malta were implying with their comments, was that we need to re-evaluate the purpose of stipends for the sake of improving our post-secondary and tertiary level education for the betterment of our economy in face of international economy.

However, at the moment, this issue seems to be very sensitive to several stakeholders, not least to the political class that surely knows that the next electoral victory depends mostly on the young generation’s level of voting support, and thus, it seems that any suggestion of reducing stipends or even introducing University fees would surely be a political suicide, at least up to the next general election.

Going back to the issue of international developments, it could well be argued that although universities in the UK have become among the most expensive universities to study in, they are undoubtedly considered among the best in the world in terms of intellectual resources, academic contacts, studying environment and jobs attractiveness. And as Maltese who aspire for the best possible world-class education, we all prefer proceeding with our post-graduate studies in nothing less than the best UK universities.

Up till now there is nothing controversial, at least in the Maltese context. The sticking and most controversial point arises when we try to debate and eventually decide what type of University should we have in Malta; implying that we have to debate the issue of University funding, with student maintenance grants being part of the whole formula. The main debate is whether we would like to have a University that is well under-resourced with little international academic aspirations but with “happy” students receiving their monthly stipend, or whether we want a University that competes face-to-face with international universities, through the ownership of a state-of-the-art library that reflects its central position in tertiary education, with the result of having all academic departments competing on the basis of having the biggest number of publications in international journals, but then most students having to pay for tuition fees.

Every choice carries its pluses and minuses. However, the time has come for us all to discuss this matter critically and eventually decide in light of our aspirations. We cannot pretend that this challenge does not exist, and that it is something of the “others”. As a country, we are among the laggards in Europe when it comes to research and development, and surely this is the result of a broken system that wastes resources in the name of petty politics.

The time has come to discuss several issues that go beyond stipends. We have to debate whether the University of Malta should continue being totally publicly financed, and how to attract more foreign EU and non-EU students in order to enhance the intellectual diversity on campus, while adding another source of income.

In addition, more has to be debated in order to create an identity that makes students feel proud of their University, both during and also after their academic experience. And last but not least, there are other issues about whether more local competition in tertiary education should be injected, and whether the University of Malta is really equipped to act as a centre of academic excellence that truly reflects its international academic vocation.