The Government has no plans to charge EU students tuition fees to study at the University of Malta, despite a record number of applications this year.
“The University of Malta cannot charge tuition fees to EU nationals without also charging them to Maltese nationals,” a spokesman for the Education Ministry said.
“Government policy is to leave the University’s first degree courses free for Maltese and other EU nationals.”
Students from EU states have the same right as their Maltese counterparts to study at the University free of charge under European law.
The ministry’s stance is at odds with comments made by some academics and even the rector himself, who in 2010 had called for the introduction of tuition fees coupled with scholarships for Maltese students and EU students who were established residents in Malta.
In his ‘2020 Vision or Optical Illusion’ report, Rector Juanito Camilleri described the system of allowing all EU students to study free of charge as “a very serious anomaly that is unsustainable”.
796
– the number of applications from EU undergraduates
“While treating all EU nationals who are ‘established residents’ of our island equally, we would be in a position to charge fees to all non-residents be they from the EU or otherwise,” Prof. Camilleri wrote of his scholarship proposal.
Prof. Camilleri did not respond to a request for a comment for this article.
The University received 796 applications from 612 prospective EU undergraduates this year, up from 607 applications from 428 applicants in 2012/2013.
Of these, 139 EU students actually enrolled on undergraduate courses, compared to 94 in 2012/2013. Year-on-year applications increased from almost every EU country this year.
The most notable increase came from the UK, with 381 applications for undergraduate and postgraduate courses compared to 207 in 2012/2013. The number of British applications this year exceeded the total number of applications (327) from all EU states for the academic year 2009/2010.
Malta is particularly attractive to British students because the top universities in the UK are now permitted to charge up to £9,000 (€10,700) per year in tuition fees.
Conversely, Malta may be able to learn something from the British situation. Welsh students studying in the UK, for example, are normally eligible for a grant from the Welsh Government that covers the bulk of their tuition fees.
Scotland is a different matter. Like Malta, Scottish universities do not charge tuition fees, which means students from elsewhere in the EU can study there free of charge. Yet, they do charge tuition fees to students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, because EU anti-discrimination laws do not apply to students who are technically from the same country.
Other notable increases in EU applications at the University of Malta this year came from Ireland (92, up from 44 last year), Italy (85, up from 42), Germany (61, up from 48) and Poland (35, up from 13).
According to academic Ranier Fsadni, “the numbers for this year should be no surprise to anyone. Both the trend and the international environment to stimulate such growth has been there to see.”
Mr Fsadni said he does not favour the introduction of a numerus clauses on university courses, but he thinks there are other options which could be explored to remedy a situation which he believes is “a recipe for importing other countries’ debts.”
The anthropologist and Times of Malta columnist has publically backed Prof. Camilleri’s proposal for the introduction of tuition fees coupled with scholarships for Malta-domiciled students to cover the full cost of the course. Mr Fsadni pointed out that if fees are competitive, the University of Malta would be able to aggressively market its courses abroad and generate a new funding stream.
The Doctor of Medicine and Surgery course is bearing the brunt of the demand from Europe, with 398 applications from prospective EU students this year and 76 actually enrolling on the course.
With 199 first-year medical students in total this year, the rector has warned that further increases would “put pressure” on the number of clinical placements available.
The Education Ministry said foreign universities have shown interest in setting up fee-charging medical courses in Malta.
“For this to happen there has to be proper teaching hospitals in Malta and Gozo apart from Mater Dei, as this hospital is already taken up and cannot accept any further students,” the ministry said.
EU students are not eligible for the stipends paid by the Government to Maltese students.
pcooke@timesofmalta.com