Mcast students feel caught in the middle of an ongoing dispute between the college and its lecturers, and have called on both sides to resolve their issues before their studies suffer further.
The Malta Union of Teachers declared an industrial dispute with Mcast three weeks ago over delays in negotiating a new lecturers’ collective agreement. A strike planned last Friday was called off after talks advanced, but industrial directives remain in place, which students say are creating an extremely stressful environment for both them and their lecturers.
Danika Formosa, a student representative on the college Council of Institutes, said students in their final years were being denied the help they needed at a crucial point in their studies.
Addressing the press outside the Mcast campus in Paola today, Ms Formosa said that lecturers, some of whom are teaching degree-level courses, should be ensured the right conditions to carry out their jobs, and called for a sustainable solution to rectify the dispute.
Industrial directives were being interpreted differently across different institutes - with some lecturers not submitting attendance or not providing verbal or written feedback on assignments
Student council president Ahmed Lamlum added that the industrial directives were being interpreted differently across different institutes - with some lecturers not submitting attendance or not providing verbal or written feedback on assignments - further complicating the situation.
The students called for a solution to be reached by the time lectures resume after the Christmas recess, which begins at the end of the week.
The MUT industrial dispute is based on claims that the college failed to respect a deadline to provide counter proposals for financial aspects of the new collective agreement under negotiation.
Mcast has said it remains committed to a new agreement with a fair, just and improved package for academic staff, but that discussions on an improved financial package should be concluded within the context of the complete collective agreement.
Following the withdrawal of strike action last week, the college appealed to the MUT to reconsider its current position and suspend all its other directives while negotiations were underway, as it said was customary in normal industrial relation practices.