The lecturers' unions and the government have agreed to return to the negotiating table today in a bid to iron out the long-standing dispute over the collective agreement and salaries.

The deadlock was finally broken last night when the University of Malta Academic Staff Association and the Malta Union of Teachers lifted their directives, just hours after an animated rally by students who demanded an end to the dispute.

The government then said that once the directives were lifted talks could start immediately.

Students of different political beliefs united in the rally pleading for their exams not to be postponed. University Students' Council (KSU) president Roberta Avellino did not mince her words. She said the lecturers' union and the government were being stubborn and unfair and were stifling the University.

Addressing the government, she said: "When will you deliver on your promises to invest seriously in higher education? Our University cannot survive just on EU grants. We should not depend on charity. We need either government investment or private investment. What about the promised trust fund? It never ended up in the budget."

Having been elected on the Nationalist Party-sympathising Christian-Democrat (SDM) ticket, together with the rest of KSU, Ms Avellino has been criticised in the past for being too pro-government.

She is an employee of Media.Link, the PN's media company but this did not seem to stop her from lashing out at the government for not reaching a conclusion on the new collective agreement with lecturers in time.

When asked whether students were still on the side of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi - as they had proclaimed during the March general election - Ms Avellino replied that "students are now looking out for their interests".

About 400 students turned up for the rally, which was held inside the KSU Common Room due to the rain. Many students held up banners and blew foghorns, in what ended up as a noisy debate reminiscent of a mass meeting, with Ms Avellino shouting at the top of her voice to be heard.

The slogans on the posters read: "We can't wait, we can't be late", "Delaying our exams = our flights + second semester out of sight (international students)" and "Rights and Duties go together".

Another banner read: "Stop testing our patience, start testing our knowledge".

The rally was supported by all the active student organisations and among the crowd were many foreign students and sixth formers.

Ms Avellino said: "Lecturers have the right to strike and to ask for a better pay but their dispute is with the government, not with us."

She said that, instead of being consulted on the collective agreement, students had been used.

Speaking about the attendance, one of the student representatives said that, at the time, there were more people in the library studying than at the rally. "But, considering the exams are only 10 days away, this is no surprise," he said.

KSU recently issued a directive to students to continue studying, attending lectures and handing in assignments on time, despite the dispute.

Ms Avellino complained that some lectures were held anyway in spite of the rally. She added that someone had sent a malicious e-mail on behalf of KSU to boycott the rally and to take the lecturers' side in this dispute. She said that even if the directives were called off, KSU will continue its call to finalise the collective agreement once and for all.

The lecturers have been in a long dispute with the government over their wages. At the beginning of summer they had decided not to issue exam results but, after negotiations were restarted, the directive was lifted.

This time, the Umasa had asked lecturers to boycott committees, sub-committees and senate meetings, to stop work on the introduction of new courses, not to hold exams in January and not to publish assignment results until further notice.

In a statement, the KSU expressed its satisfaction that both parties are to re-engage in discussion.

KSU holds that such a positive outcome is the step in the right direction to strengthen higher education in Malta and to turn the University of Malta into a centre of excellence.

It also noted with satisfaction that both parties listened to the plea of the student body and expressed its hope that the negotiations are concluded as quickly as possible.

KSU also appealed to both parties to hold discussions in the good spirit that such delicate negotiations require.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com