[attach id=354093 size="medium"]A meeting to break the deadlock at the University was postponed yesterday. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi[/attach]

University and Junior College students may have to wait longer for their examination results, as a meeting intended to break the deadlock over an industrial dispute involving the academic staff, was yesterday postponed.

The issue concerns the new collective agreement for academic staff, who have rejected the offer tabled by the Education Ministry. As a result, the Malta Union of Teachers and the University of Malta Academic Staff Association instructed their members to withhold all non-final year under-graduate results both at University and at the Junior College.

Last week, the Kunsill Studenti Universitarji warned it would stage protests if the deadlock persisted. It said that some 6,000 students were being affected by these actions, arguing that they should not be treated as bargaining tools.

In a statement issued yesterday, the students’ body noted that fourth year medical students intending to apply for the post-graduate foundation course in the UK, were already facing a race against time to meet the August 14 deadline.

The KSU lamented that these industrial actions were hindering students to progress to the next stage of their studies. It urged all parties to reach an agreement as the situation was becoming desperate.

Contacted by Times of Malta, MUT president Kevin Bonello confirmed that a meeting with the Director of Industrial Relations which was scheduled for yesterday, had been called off as no government representatives had confirmed their attendance.

Mr Bonello argued it would be pointless holding any further reconciliation meetings, unless the government presented an improved package. He added that the new collective agreement would also pave the way for the introduction of a new e-learning infrastructure. This would also mean a potential new stream of revenue from students following courses from abroad, Mr Bonello said.

Sources told this newspaper that the academic staff was holding out for a wage increase of some 2.5 per cent, arguing that this would be on par with the most recent collective agreement for civil service employees.

In 2009, following another long-drawn industrial dispute academics had secured a deal through which some of them had increased their income by up to €16,000 over a five-year period. Consequently, by the time the collective agreement expired, the total wage bill had increased by some €22 million over five years.

Questions sent yesterday to the Education Ministry were not answered by the time of going to print.