The Health Department and the University meet on Monday in a bid to raise the number of students in the nursing courses following a surge in applications, as otherwise it would mean prospective applicants could be left out despite a shortage of trained professionals.
A health spokesman said the meeting would analyse the "scenario" that has seen a record 379 applications for the courses, which can only cater for 140.
"The Health Department is doing its utmost so that all those who applied and are eligible start the course," he said.
The spokesman pointed out that not every applicant would have been eligible for the BSc (Hons) in nursing course or the diploma in health science, which have grown from 100 students last year to 140.
The problem cropped up after the government recently embarked on a campaign to attract nursing students to make good for a shortage in the sector. It worked because applications for the two courses more than doubled from 151 last year, with 91 students being accepted then, while the courses' capacity did not increase by the same rate.
The spokesman said the upsurge in applicants could also have been attributed to the global economic crisis, which led students to seek more stable jobs. "It is not the Health Department that is refusing the students; the course number has been determined by the University," the spokesman said, insisting that the two sides still had to meet to discuss the issue.
The aim of the meeting would be to try and increase the number of students on the nursing courses or direct them to other health-related studies, he said. The University's constraints would, of course, need to be taken into account and the intake could not be expanded at all costs, lowering standards in the process, he said. The meeting would take stock of the situation and determine a way forward. "We first need to establish whether the course can take more students," he continued.
A University spokesman had excluded any plans to increase the number of students accepted, saying the number had been set after several meetings between the University and the Health Division.
The Malta Union of Nurses and Midwives has condemned the decision not to open the courses for more students and its president Paul Pace has said it expected all applicants with the necessary qualifications to be accepted.
The University had to take a good look at its resources and increase them to be able to accept every student with the necessary qualifications, he said, adding that the health services required about 1,400 nurses, with Mater Dei Hospital alone in desperate need of 700.