UOM funding proposal: three-year service contract would stop university from requesting funds annually

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo explained that the ‘three-year service contract’ proposed in the University of Malta Act would stop the cumbersome task of the university having to make a formal request for funding annually prior to the budget.

It would also provide the university with more freedom and flexibility, he said in comments to this newsroom.

The government has released a green paper, or a consultation document, which is intended to eventually become the University of Malta Act. This would be the first time that the university is provided a dedicated piece of legislation, rather being included in general education legislation.

A position paper released by the University of Malta Academic Staff Association expressed “grave concerns over a service-contract model.”

In a detailed position paper, it wrote that “university funding should look beyond the provision of purely marketdriven skills.”

In comments to The Malta Independent, Minister Bartolo was asked to elaborate on this government proposal.

He explained that as things stood, the university had to present its books prior to the national annual budget and make a request for what it needed for the following year. Through a three-year service contract, Bartolo said that the university would no longer need to do this, and that it would have to reach an agreement (ftehim) with the finance ministry for a period covering three years.

He did not elaborate, however, on what exactly this agreement would entail and whether the university would have to be contractually obligated to provide some form of service to the government in exchange for funds.

While the University of Malta Act has been welcomed by all, certain clauses currently proposed have stirred up controversy, such as the setting up of a governance board made up of appointees chosen by the Prime Minister to oversee the university’s strategy. Many have expressed concern over the university’s autonomy being threatened, while some have questioned whether this is being done to address the so-called skills-gap currently being experienced in Malta’s work force.

Mr Bartolo said he did not believe that knowledge and learning were solely tied to employability, when asked about the scope behind the proposed University of Malta Act.

“I do not believe we should narrow the role of education to these purposes. The university has a huge role to play, including research and teaching. University should have a big impact on Maltese life, society, politics and more.”

Many of the skills learnt in university, are ones that provide skills for people to thrive in the world of work and in society.

He said, for example, that if the relevant research had not been carried out into the development of a chip – a particular industry would have left Malta.