Voluntary student groups have hit out at the organisation of Freshers’ Week at the University of Malta, saying commercial sponsors are being prioritised over student organisations. 

Claria Cutjar from Studenti Graffitti, the youth arm of NGO Moviment Graffitti, told Times of Malta Freshers' Week has been turned into a “money-making event packed with companies and corporations.” 

Students organisations, on the other hand, had been limited to two small tents that were placed on campus as temporary study areas during the pandemic. Furthermore, student organisations could only be on campus for Freshers' Week for a maximum of two days during the five-day event, she added.

“This ensures that the ever-increasing amount of student organisations take up the least amount of space possible so that more corporations can be placed on campus instead,” Cutajar said. 

“It is frankly hypocritical of KSU to be working “with you, for you” when they are continuously favouring commercial entities over the voices of students.

"The stands at Freshers’ Week are sold for massive amounts of money to corporations, and student organisations are not given the option to be placed centrally.”

The first week at university should be an opportunity to showcase the potential of student life to new students and not only commercial activity, Cutajar said.

“While KSU does offer a common room that can be used by all, the overall facilities of the campus are lacking and shameful,” Cutajar said. 

“The aim of Freshers’ week should be for new students to get an idea of the environment in the University, join organisations and connect to their peers. Any companies on campus should be directly related to student life and positively influence students.”

'Preferential treatment disappointing'

Members of other student organisations said that the space they had to work in within the exhibition tents was small. They lamented not returning to the more spacious setups in other areas of campus used prior to the pandemic. 

Schedules on the use of space in the tents were only sent to organisations a week before the event, giving them a limited time to plan, they said. 

Andrew Sciberras, president of the Malta Law Students Society (GħSL) said that preferential treatment towards paying exhibitors was disappointing, considering the unpaid hours that many students put into running voluntary organisations on campus. 

“As a student organisation, we were disappointed that the focus was more on companies who paid for their stands, rather than the student organisations, who were there volunteering their time and energy for the benefit of the freshers,” he said. 

'They were given an option' - KSU

When contacted for comment, KSU president Alex Gaglione said that student organisations had been given the option to decide whether they wanted to set up on just two days or for the whole five days, with the decision being taken by consensus, she said. 

“Ahead of Freshers' Week we had a meeting with representatives of all student organisations and we gave them the option to either have them on campus for two days or five,” she said. 

“We explained that because of the space available, it would probably be ideal to have everyone stay for just the two days, but had they chosen five days we would have found a way to make it work.” 

Gaglione said the study tents had been retained as they had air conditioning.

“Student organisations do not pay for their stands. They only hand over a deposit, which is returned to them,” she said. 

“Barring a few minor commercial restrictions, organisations are allowed to do whatever they please with their stands and if they inform us in good time we try our best to accommodate any requests that they have.” 

Gaglione added that another meeting between KSU and student organisations would be held after Freshers’ Week where they would be open to feedback. 

“At the end of the day Freshers’ Week belongs to them as much as it belongs to us and we are open to feedback on how we can improve,” she said. 

“Everything we do, we do for the benefit of students," she added.

Accusations of an over-commercialised campus come just two days after a marketing stunt by a student-focused media company drew criticism for dropping money on hundreds of students. 

FreeHour, a company partially owned by Lovin Malta, dropped €1,000 in €5 notes and sent students scrambling to collect the money in the newly-opened Campus Hub complex.

The stunt has been described as “shameful and humiliating” by critics and both the University of Malta and KSU have distanced themselves from the incident.