The UMASA Crisis: A step forward?

UMASA and the MUT have joined forces in issuing a directive to University and Junior College staff not to hand in results from exams or form a part of an examination board. This news is not going down well with the students.

It would essentially mean that publication of results could possibly be further delayed (already a contentious issue), and more importantly, that orals and vivas will not be held for the duration of the directive, as these require an examination board. Orals for dissertations and theses have somehow been spared the wrath of the unions, though presumably the results of the orals would still be sequestered under this directive.

My concern is two-fold. Firstly, medical students in their 5th year (a population I am more familiar with, though I'm sure this extends to other faculties) must attend 3 oral exams in various subjects as part of their final exams. These exams are no joke: some of them constitute up to 70% of the final mark. Moreover, preparations for these exams, from the perspective of both faculty and students, have been going on for the past year. These sorts of exams have on their examination boards external examiners, coming in from abroad for the sole purpose of these exams. Are they to be turned away at the last minute, and called in again in a couple of days when the issue has been settled? That would portray a very professional image of our island's practices, I'm sure.

Secondly, the timing of such action is abysmal. I appreciate that this is the time when the issue will get most air: students and faculty are up in arms about having their examination schedule disrupted half-way through, and if the unions wanted maximum press coverage and discussion, then they've done a good job of it. However, students are already under intense amounts of duress due to exams themselves, without having to wonder whether or not their exams are going to occur, or that their results are going to be published. Final year students often have work lined up pending exam results (medical students in particular are in great demand by the local NHS, for example), and any delay in results could cost them their jobs. From the ground, it feels as if the unions are thus holding the students as hostage for leverage with the government and university. As a 'hostage', you'll understand that I'm not too keen on the situation.

On the flip-side, improved working conditions for staff at the University and Junior College have been a long time in coming. The majority of faculty members stop short of taking on full-time roles at the university simply because it is not feasible for them to do so, either financially or career-wise. While the university does sterling work with regards to education in most instances, you can't help but feel that this situation has stifled what could be exponential growth in the field of post-secondary and teritary education, as well as with regard to research in all the other fields.

Hence, I do appreciate the need for the Unions to strike (lest I come off as just another whining student), as well as their tactical choice of timing, but I resent the fact that they are holding us, the students, as security, for whatever the cause. It's high time that two things happened: students should be more aware of their role in the dynamics of university life, and that the unions also recognise this approach the student body for support in their campaign for better working conditions. Together in a united front against the governing institutions, students and faculty could revolutionise the attitudes and environment at the university, and only then will we be able to call whatever the outcome 'a step forward'.

Paul Cacciottolo is a 4^th Year Medical student and a member of InSite, the student media organisation www.insite.org.mt .