The University of Malta academic staff has hit out against the Finance Minister’s damning indictment of the academic institution's finances. 

On Thursday, during a Times of Malta event, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said the University of Malta needs to start generating proper revenue and get its finances in order. 

Caruana said he has “had enough” of the university making excuses and chasing it to present clear finances “for years”.

“They should pull up their socks and roll up their sleeves and generate income,” he said.

In a statement on Friday, the University of Malta Academic Staff Association (UMASA) highlighted how the university generates income through tuition fees and research programmes. 

UMASA said the university provided tertiary education services to more than 12,700 students at both undergraduate and graduate levels. According to the association, the annual market value of this service is estimated at over €150 million. 

“In Malta, the funding of tertiary education from tax-payers money is a long-standing government policy, which is underpinned by the country’s commitment to investing in its people, and which UMASA fully supports,” the statement read. 

“However we would then expect the minister to steer well clear of trying to damn the university for not generating enough income.”

The association said the university generates around €25 million from tuition fees paid by international and non-EU students and from other revenue sources.

Yet, the association said the remaining €125 million or so should be considered as additional value-added provided by the university.

The academics said the university managed €50 million in research funds from both national and international sources in 2023. These funds place the university on the international research map and are crucial for generating employment and supporting innovative projects.

The association went on to list how the funding goes towards the construction of new state-of-the-art buildings and laboratories, such as the new Engineering Research and Innovation Laboratories building and the Sustainable Living Complex. 

“The government contribution to the university should be viewed as a partial reimbursement of the due tuition-related income of the university and not as a handout to compensate for university 'mismanagement.”

The association highlighted that the university's core mission is to provide tertiary education and research. While the university generates other funds through structures such as its Knowledge Transfer Office and the University’s Language School, these are not enough to replace the “huge amount” of funding for its core mission.