Intellectually impaired students were far more likely to sit for O-levels than a decade ago, thanks to the assistance being offered, but the number of them making it to university was disappointing, a conference heard yesterday.
Carmen Sammut, the University of Malta’s Pro-rector for Student Affairs, told an education accessibility conference that the number of students receiving assistance to sit for their O-levels had shot up from just under 100 to more than 600 in the past decade.
More such students were also sitting for A-levels, with the number requesting special access arrangements having grown from around 20 to 120 in recent years.
The situation at university, however, was not reflective of society. Dr Sammut said there were fewer than 100 receiving assistance for their learning difficulties.
A quarter of the98 students with arrangements for access have more than one disability
Interjecting, Mental Health Commissioner John Cachia insisted the number was “certainly too low”.
“If the campus is really going to reflect society as a whole, then it needs to be accessible, and more needs to be done,” Dr Cachia said.
While sharing the sentiment, Dr Sammut added that it would be unfair to depict the university as doing nothing to improve the campus’ intellectual and neurological accessibility.
“I don’t think the perception, of some, that the university offers no support facilities, is fair. However, it is certainly a shame that so many feel disheartened, that the university’s doors seem to be closed and that some fear they will never make it,” she said.
University figures show a quarter of the 98 students who receive some form of access arrangement have more than one form of disability. Students were three times more likely to say they had a mental health issue than a physical one, such as a wheelchair.
Yesterday’s conference, entitled Towards a Truly Accessible University, was organised by the Faculty for Social Wellbeing and brought academics, impaired students and their parents together to discuss the challenges to equal access for tertiary education.
After a panel discussion, focus groups discussed the main issues and recommendations to be presented to the University Senate.
Earlier in the day, PhD student Alistar Degaetano, himself intellectually impaired, gave the seminar a run-through of the support systems implemented at Trinity College, Dublin.
He called for a comprehensive rethink of the way courses were set up, taught and examined, to ensure a level playing field – a move towards appreciation of neurological diversity.
“We have a responsibility which we must meet. If you don’t like it, then you shouldn’t be in the education sector,” he said to applause from those gathered at the old university campus in Valletta.