Mary Attard is concerned (June 19) about the possible lack of research underpinning any possible future new university establishment in Malta.

She is apparently unaware that senior academic staff from the science departments at the University of Malta have repeatedly expressed concern that funding has gone mainly into non-means-tested student stipends rather than into research.

Research in science departments usually requires expensive equipment and consumables.

Research all over the world into the ingredients of high-quality teaching has always arrived to the same conclusion – that it depends entirely on the quality of the teachers.

All teachers are under the impression that they are God’s gift to learning but reality is sometimes different – some teachers are actually worse than a good textbook.

Furthermore, occasional lecture audits at Malta’s university used to reveal a worrying level of unannounced teacher absenteeism in some departments.

I suppose we now have yet another political football: tertiary education standards.

Enjoy.

(The author is a former deputy dean of the Medical School.)