AI has made assignments obsolete – former rector

Traditional student assignments must be overhauled to stop generative AI from doing the thinking for students, according to former University of Malta rector Alfred Vella.

Speaking in an interview with Times of Malta at the end of his 10-year tenure, the chemistry professor warned that the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence has rendered traditional take-home assignments useless to measure student’s abilities.

The university must find other ways to assess students such as relying on supervised pen-and-paper exams, extensive oral testing or requiring students to declare how they used and modified AI drafts.

“We can no longer count on assignments as we traditionally know them,” he said.

“And there’s a risk we let AI get us out of our own minds.”

Vella retired as rector at the end of last month after leading the institution since 2016, concluding a more than 50-year career in science and education. He was succeeded by Prof. Frank Bezzina and previously served as a chemistry professor, dean of the science department, and deputy rector.

During the interview, Vella also admitted several university students manage to graduate even though they lack the ability to clearly and logically articulate thoughts and arguments.

The difference between a degree and a certificate is that a degree should confirm that you have acquired some sophisticated skills, he said. Anyone with a degree should not only have more knowledge about a subject: they must also have the ability to think, speak and write logically, critically and coherently.

“I worry when I see people who graduate and still lack this skill. If you don’t have these skills, you do not deserve to graduate with a degree.”

He said that one of his first initiatives as rector was to introduce a one-year English course to train new university students to overcome this communication challenge.

“It wasn’t very popular, but I believe it was necessary,” he said.

Asked if some university degrees are too easily obtained, Vella expressed concern that too few students now graduate with a third-class degree.

“The way we formulated our courses clusters results in the higher classes,” he said, noting classifications should distinguish good from outstanding students, not label others as failures.

“We’ve become very touchy around these labels and mistakenly believe that if you’re not great at academia, you’ve failed in life.”

‘An obsession with academic degrees’

Vella said Malta has a historical obsession with academic degrees over vocational training and he said he suspects this is a remnant of colonialism.

Society does not need everyone to go to university, he said, pointing out that professions like nursing, teaching, and mechanics are better suited to specialised, highly esteemed colleges.

“Education must give society the skills it needs, and we don’t need everybody to be a university professor,” he said, arguing the country probably needs four vocational students for every university student.

In Germany, for instance, nursing and teaching students do not go to university, he said. They go to top colleges which still enjoy a great reputation.

“You don’t need to go to university to be a good mechanic, for instance,” he said.

“You need to have a deep understanding of engineering principles and of how machines work, but you don’t need to write a thesis.”

Vella’s departure comes amid heavy criticism over the university’s financial management. The institution’s 2023 audited accounts laid bare a staggering €11.17 million deficit, with liabilities exceeding assets by nearly €19 million.

The figures prompted independent auditors to flag “material uncertainty” over the university’s ability to continue operating, while Finance Minister Clyde Caruana publicly told the university to “pull up their socks” and stop making excuses.

Vella, however, defended his record, insisting that skyrocketing payroll costs mandated by collective agreements – and not administrative waste – drove the deficit.

“The only reason was the skyrocketing salaries. The other expenses remained roughly the same. The collective agreement mandates salary increases, and at one point we weren’t getting enough money from government to keep up,” he said.

“We’d love to make more money ourselves but remember that the government also wants to ensure university remains affordable for everyone. And by paying for degrees, the government guarantees access to higher education, regardless of a student’s financial background.”

‘I wanted to hug Clyde Caruana’

Addressing Caruana’s harsh public criticism, the former rector took a surprisingly grateful stance, revealing he wanted to “hug” Caruana for the reprimand.

“To be honest, when Clyde Caruana made that comment he did me a favour, and I exploited his statement as much as I could,” Vella said, explaining that the minister’s public pressure gave him the internal leverage needed to force departments to tighten their spending.

He also responded to questions about the university’s handling of a €30 million EU-funded sustainability building, which must be completed by the end of this year to avoid Malta losing the funds.

He denied that the delays were due to mismanagement, attributing the paralysis to ongoing issues with works and contractors.

‘We need a bigger dose of ethics and morality’

Reflecting on his decade at the helm, the 75-year-old professor concluded that the ultimate shortcoming of modern higher education is its obsession with technical expertise at the expense of ethics.

“We need to inject morality in our courses – teaching students to do the right thing for the sake of it,” Vella said.

“If we were moral, we wouldn’t be dealing with the scourge of plagiarism.”

Throughout his career Vella released over 50 papers and other publications and over the decades served as a court-appointed expert who investigated more than 2,500 fires, explosions and chemical accidents.

He is also well-known for his environmental research in Malta, particularly his studies on how fireworks affect local air quality and dust pollution.

This work earned him, among other awards, the National Order of Merit in 2025, followed by an honorary doctorate from the University of Split in 2026.