The Nationalist Party said this evening that the government needed to explain the real reason behind a legal notice issued on Friday which would reduce the standards of the Maltese education system.

Shadow education minister Therese Comodini Cachia said the legal notice would lower standards by reducing the criteria needed for an institution to be recognised and licensed to be a university.

Dr Comodini Cachia asked who the government had consulted about this legal notice; why the criteria had been reduced; how the government defined 'national interest' mentioned in the legal notice; how the government would ensure that there was a level playing field between the University of Malta, private institutes which had already been set up, and new ones.  

How would the government ensure that high standards would be maintained by institutions which were seeking accreditation in Malta and would therefore achieve European recognition for their degrees? 

EDUCATION MINISTRY REACTION

In a reaction, the Education Ministry said it was becoming increasingly clear why the Opposition had come out strongly against the proposed new university. It did not want pluralism in higher education.

The ministry noted that it had, yesterday, already corrected mistaken information about the legal notice issued on Friday. 

The legal notice, it said, was issued in consultation with  NCFHE, the independent body on higher education. Its purpose was to give space for pluralism in tertiary education. 

The ministry reiterated that the the legal notice does not lower the rigorous process for an institution to be given a permit to operate. 

Furthermore, the University of Malta was not affected and this government was allocating record funding to it.