Last week, a €115 million project by the American University of Malta was launched, delivering another important education pledge. In our electoral programme, we promised a wider educational mix in higher education while investing further in our current institutions, such as the University of Malta and Mcast.
More choices in the market doesn’t mean public institutions have to suffer. We have seen this working in education for a number of years now and this is also true in other key areas, such as health.
This investment will not only bring a new and fresh perspective to what was a deteriorating part of the country, but it will provide an additional asset for the country to become an educational hub in Europe.
A top American university, DePaul University, will be helping in the development of the curriculum, while those who will manage and lead this institution will have to go through the rigorous process of scrutiny in the same way institutions offering undergraduate and masters’ courses in Malta have gone through in past years.
The University of Malta has been boosted in each of our three Budgets with multi-million euro increases as well as an improved collective agreement.
Anyone talking about the American University of Malta denting the University of Malta is either knowingly or unknowingly misleading.
Seventeen per cent of the local student population already attends non-public higher educational institutions, and the University of Malta has continued growing. The 17 per cent figure is up from two per cent in 2008, and yet the University of Malta has continued to flourish over this period, not only thanks to this government’s commitment but also through a strengthened stipend system, which allows students to receive a stipend when repeating a year.
There are also a number of ambitious infrastructural projects at the University of Malta, some of which have been completed and others that are in different phases. These projects, part of which make use of European funding, are further commitments that the country is investing in our public institutions.
This project also translates into new opportunities for local academics as well as local students who can make use of a scholarship agreement with the American University
Further evidence can be found at Mcast whereby we have also increased its expenditure in a bid to widen its scope and improve its service. Mcast will also be offering, for the first time, courses at masters’ level in the next scholastic year.
The American University of Malta will do nothing but complement these public institutions while driving academic progress in our country, and those who genuinely have the local education system at heart, and are free from partisan rhetoric, will be welcoming this substantial investment. This project also translates into new opportunities for local academics as well as local students who can make use of a scholarship agreement with the American University.
This investment, along with the Barts Medical and Dental School, which is part of London’s Queen Mary University, can leave a hugely positive impact on our education system.
In addition, the indirect economic benefit of the American University of Malta is almost incalculable – the area will be regenerated, and an injection of youth and dynamism will take over this part of Malta.
This is an area which in the past was seen as not good enough for certain investment projects, and we are looking forward to have such sizeable projects regenerate these localities and improve the standard of living in this area. The American University of Malta is eyeing various student markets across the globe and this will provide a dynamic and sizeable student population.
One can sort of understand that such investment may be unwelcome news to our political opponents. The creation of jobs, investment and wealth in this part of the country seems to have unnerved some people. But education?
Whenever the Labour Party was in Opposition it always backed the government whenever major educational boosts were presented; however, it seems to be a different story now. A few years back, when the PN government at the time presented the Smart City project as an ICT hub, the Labour Party in Opposition immediately welcomed the project, the regeneration of the area and the jobs it would bring with it. There is nothing wrong with this and it’s how it should be.
But nowadays things have changed, and we are faced with an Opposition which would rather let good investment opportunities for the country go by. It’s an Opposition party which would rather stand still and govern by not governing at all. Now, where have we seen that before?
Evarist Bartolo is Minister of Education.