‘Insiha Fred’: Petition Launched After Mandatory Study Unit Rolled Out For First Year Uni Students ‘Without Consent’
First year University of Malta students are up in arms after finding out they need to attend a new mandatory study unit – one they said was dropped into their schedule without their consent.
The ‘Petition for the removal of the CASP study unit’ has already garnered nearly 1,200 signatures at the time of publishing, calling upon UoM authorities to reverse their decision, which they say was sprung upon them as they began their second semester.
“We demand that the CASP study unit is removed from the mandatory study units,” the petition begins.
“We haven’t been informed about this study unit when we applied to this university, and it would exceed the recommended 60ECTS credits, causing many students to have severe difficulties focusing on the study units they have.”
“Not to mention the hassle they put us through to remove just one extra ECTS, and now we are subjected to an additional eight, which were forced upon us without our consent. Furthermore, other European universities let you graduate with 180ECTS credits, and suddenly, we would need to make 188ECTS now; which is unfair, especially when last year’s students did not attend the said course.”
A screenshot of the petition page
The CASP – or Communications and Academic Skills programme (CASP) – is spread over “two semesters, starting from the second semester of Year 1 and continuing into the first semester of Year two”.
The four disciplines it aims to cover are
- Arts and Humanities
- Life Sciences
- Physical Sciences, and
- Social Sciences.
The university describes the course as something that will “complement your main course of study”.
The two study units are integrated into each undergraduate course as ‘extra study units’ and your participation is recorded in your academic record. Performance in these units will not affect the overall performance (average) in your course.
However, some students took to social media to vent their frustrations.
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Do you think the CASP study unit should be removed? Sound off in the comments below
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