The number of first-year non-Maltese University medicine students from the EU has almost doubled this year, putting further strain on the capacity for clinical placements.
University Rector Juanito Camilleri thinks the 199 first-year medical students, including 76 students from other EU countries, are “just about manageable”.
He had passed the same comment last year, when the number stood at 193, but had warned that “a further significant increase may put pressure on the limited number of clinical placements available and new solutions will need to be found”.
Students from EU states have the same right as their Maltese counterparts to study at the University free of charge under European law. The doctor of medicine and surgery course is bearing the brunt of this rule.
From 42 EU students starting this course in 2012/2013, the number has grown to 76 this year.
In total 398 EU students originally applied for the medicine course this year, compared to 159 in 2012/2013. However, the total of 199 first-year students from all countries on the 2013/2014 medicine course was only a slight increase on the 193 who started the course last year.
Prof. Camilleri pointed out that there was no numerus clausus for the course. All qualified applicants were accepted, so Maltese students did not lose their places to foreigners, he explained.
Osama Kanawati, a Greek-Palestinian doctor who graduated from the medicine course three years ago, said that having 200 students in class and in hospital would be “impossible”. Now a core surgical trainee in England, when Dr Kanawati studied in Malta he was in a class of about 80 students whose medical placements started in their third year.
“We were divided into groups of six each, which I would say was OK. But I can’t imagine how they will cater for 200 students.
“They’ve only got one hospital, so the teaching won’t be optimal. I can see the students eventually competing with each other aggressively just to practise on patients.”
Dr Kanawati said most EU students chose Malta because of the free tuition or as they would not have been accepted in courses elsewhere.
From about 20 foreigners in his class, he estimates that only two remained in Malta after they graduated. “They go abroad for better quality, pay, experience and opportunities,” he said.
Daniel McKean, a doctor from Liverpool who studied with Dr Kanawati, is one of those who opted to stay, despite being one of the top graduates in his year.
He is now a specialist trainee in emergency medicine at Mater Dei Hospital.
“The course has a great reputation abroad and Maltese doctors usually do very well when they go overseas, which only helps advertise the medical faculty here,” he noted.
“After five years studying and living here I became settled. The fact that I got a first-class education for much less money than I would have paid in the UK did influence my decision because I wanted to give something back to the country and its people,” he said.
The number of applications for University of Malta courses have increased from almost every EU country this year, with 381 applications from the UK alone, up from 207 in 2012/2013. Malta is particularly attractive to British students because top UK universities can charge up to £9,000 per year in tuition fees.
For all undergraduate courses, the University received 796 applications from 612 EU applicants this year, compared to 607 applications from 428 applicants in 2012/2013.
Of these, 139 EU applicants actually enrolled on undergraduate courses, up from 94 last year.
Academic Ranier Fsadni has criticised the system of accepting all EU students free of charge, saying “it is a recipe for importing other countries’ debts”.