MCAST students urge MCAST and MUT to reach conclusions

Following MUT’s announcement that lecturers will be taking industrial action at MCAST, Danika Formosa and Nathaniel Cutajar, both elected student representatives on the Council of Institutes urge MCAST and MUT to resolve issues before the situation gets worse.

There are three major stakeholders in this issue – the MCAST management, the lecturers and the students and each are at stake. Students are most often caught in the middle of the disputes, bearing the consequences of disagreements or lack of agreements between MCAST and lecturers.

While understanding that MUT and MCAST are in dispute over several issues and that the collective agreement has been expired for more than a year now, action, even when justified, creates a stressful atmosphere at college.

Many students are in their final year of their studies and these distractions may hinder their learning process and progress, and eventu- ally also certification. From a student’s perspective, tight deadlines, a large bulk of assignments and exams and demanding units need time and dedication.

Consequently, if lecturers are not working under the right conditions for them to do their job well, MCAST and MUT should reach a conclusion on how this can be rectified in a sustainable manner.

Finally, students will be graduating this week and their lecturers are not going to be present. Lecturers are crucial stakeholders in students’ education and students would like their teachers to be present, especially since there are some students graduating with a Degree, which is a first for the college.

As student representatives on the Council of Institutes board, Danika and Nathaniel strongly urge MCAST and MUT to treat this matter urgently and conclude on disputes to avoid the situation getting out of hand, as had happened in 2008.