Students propose SMS system at university

A proposal has been made to establish an SMS service at the university to notify students of cancelled lectures, new timetables, exam results and other urgent or important information.

The proposal is contained in the manifesto being presented by a coalition of 17 student organisations formed to contest the election for posts on the University Students Council (KSU), taking place on Wednesday.

Justin Fenech, who is a candidate for the post of KSU president on behalf of the coalition, called Id f'Id Ghalik, said the mobile phone messaging service could also provide information on extra lectures, talks by foreign lecturers, seminars, student activities and so on.

"Nowadays SMS is used a lot to inform people about parties and it has even entered the political domain. It works. We would like to use the same concept for educational purposes. It would also enable KSU and the university to form a closer link with the students."

He said the system could either be operated by the KSU or by university administrative staff, through a website with a database that would enable bulk messaging to be done.

"This morning, my 8 a.m. lecture was cancelled, but I only found out when I got to university..." groaned Mr Fenech, a law student, by way of explaining that SMS could help avoid this sort of thing.

In some courses, the current system is for the class representative to make a chain call as soon as the faculty secretary informed him or her that a lecturer was not going to turn up. Bulk messaging would supplant this laborious system.

Another of Id f'Id's proposals is for students to be able to use their 'smart' card, which gives them access to their sti-pend money, for educational purposes beyond the strict parameters of their particular course of studies. This could be for seminars, conferences and activities related to personal development, says the manifesto.

"We would like to broaden the definition of education in this regard," said Mr Fenech. "To restrict it to the education given by the university is very narrow. We would like to have students who are more complete in their development, not one-dimensional..."

Id f'Id is also proposing to organise seminars aimed at helping students successfully cross the bridge into the world of work. Furthermore, it would like to promote study and work opportunities both locally and abroad, and ultimately set up an employment agency, possibly in collaboration with the university itself.

Other proposals include weekly students activities on campus; completing the new Students House - to include games room, meeting rooms, student organisation offices and ICT facilities - by next year; and carrying on the former KSU's work to have the university implement a student rights charter and complaints system.