The University of Malta law faculty has denied claims by its students that they would be forced to sit for exams they were not sufficiently prepared for due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

In a statement, the faculty said that students would for the most part be assessed via take-home assignments and not take-home exams.

The faculty also insisted that its lecturers committed to cover topics within the stipulated remaining lecturing period to ensure that students were adequately prepared for assessment in whatever form, despite the suspension of in-person teaching at the university. 

On Friday, the Malta Law Students’ Society (GħSL) claimed the decision to proceed with take-home exams in June had been taken at the last minute and with heavy opposition by student organizations who had proposed assignments instead.

GħSL also claimed student representatives had been unexpectedly stripped of their voting rights during a meeting with their Dean and the Heads of Departments during a meeting on the matter, and a decision taken without them.

This claim was denied by the law faculty, which said procedure was for a formal vote to be taken only when there is serious and widespread disagreement on a particular issue. 

"Since this was not the case on that particular occasion, and since nobody asked for a formal vote either, the proposal was considered as approved. It is to be noted that the decision was taken after more than one hour of discussion and debate, during which debate, everbody including the Student Representatives on the Board (and other invited students) were given sufficient opportunity to make their respective cases," the faculty said. 

The faculty added that when it suspended teaching in lecture rooms due to COVID-19, all its lecturers had been trained in alternative virtual methods of teaching.

"Lectures in many subjects in this and other Faculties continued during the Easter Recess in an attempt to make up for lost time and any future (as yet unforseen) disruption," the faculty said. 

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