Law students are protesting the faculty’s announcement they would still have to sit exams, saying the decision was taken last minute and with heavy opposition by student organizations who had proposed assignments instead.

“Not only has this decision been reached just a few weeks before the examination session, but the students have also not been receiving adequate online lectures on their subjects and are therefore being forced to sit for exams which the faculty has failed to sufficiently prepare them for,” the Malta Law Students’ Society (GħSL) wrote in a statement on Friday.

Following the disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the students had approached the faculty about alternative modes of assessment instead of the usual June exams for which they were unprepared.

A group of student representatives were meant to vote on the matter together with the Dean and the Heads of Departments, however, they said they were unexpectedly stripped from their voting rights and a decision was taken without them.

According to the students, the Dean of the Faculty of Laws told the Minister for Education in a public correspondence with a student representative, “...The students can’t stamp their feet and dictate. It’s simply not on.”

It is not right to expect a higher standard from the students when falling short of providing them with the necessary resources and circumstances conducive to a healthy learning environment, the students said.

They say they have not been given access to any physical libraries to conduct research and study in.

“Shockingly, instead of empathising with the students’ difficulties, they opt to dismiss their legitimate concerns, and overburden them,” the GħSL said.

Take home online exams pose an extraordinary amount of added stress on the students,  and present a number of practicality issues which still had not been addressed by the Faculty, they said.

After student polling, GħSL said they had proposed a detailed report on how assignments can be adopted.