Despite what the above picture might suggest, this post is not about the author's Gaye (Marvin Gaye, to be more precise) taste in music. It is the result of a short conversation I had yesterday with one of my colleagues :
- Aye, barrani, kif inti ? Orrajt ?
- Mhux hazin ! U inti ? [This was uttered using a most pathetic accent, I must admit.]
- Tajjeb, tajjeb ! Aye, listen, do you know what's going on with the new med school ?
- New med school ? You mean the new facilities, in Mater Dei ?
- No, no... The new one, the irish one !
- Duh ? Irish ? You're sure you're not talking about a pub ?
But he wasn't, and I didn't have the slightest idea what he was talking about... A few hours later, I was back home and decided to Google it...
I found this article, recently published in The Times, which worried me a bit. What worried me even more was that the MAM and the MMSA don't have any information on their websites on this issue, despite the fact that the whole thing is already "in an advanced stage" (according to The Times).
So what's going on ? Should we be worried ? Will this affect the quality of our course ?
Will we have to share Mater Dei with the new medical school ? If so, will we have priority over them ? If they'll be charging their students over 30K US$ per year (very rough estimate, based on what they charge at their Bahrain branch), I bet they will want them to have priority over us...
To facilitate the above, will the new medical school attempt to 'steal' our best lecturers, by offering them the decent salaries that they deserve, and which the state hasn't been able to offer them until now ?
What's going on ?
Please post your comments, and start prodding people to get more information, because this thing looks big and ugly...
28 comments:
Thanks for starting this blog. It's a great way to make our student voices heard. This is what MMSA should be doing: listening to us more and planning fewer parties!
What the hell are the authorities up to? All of a sudden, only a few months (or is weeks) before the next election, our gracious ministers of health and education, who never seem to be interested in the university at all, find the time for a photo shoot and press conference with representatives of a foreign medical school wanting to set up shop. It seems to me that someone is making money out of this.
I heard that the Professor of Obstetrics is behind this. If it's true, then he should be fired! I guess he wants to be Dean again!
aw, alright! prosit tassew. Thanks for bringing this up. It's been on my mind since I saw the articles in the papers. Someone told me the Irish school was going to admit 60 students each year. Don't know if that's true. I'm just starting this year. By the time I get to clinicals, the wards will be crawling with foreigners (please don't take offence). I am worried!
Corrupt politicians and professors ?
Damn, this IS big and ugly... Tell us more !!!
And, please, if anyone has more information, do share it... Many people are becoming very worried about this issue. Especially the ones that can't afford to go study abroad or pay $30K for decent education...
MMSA's been in talks with various people who are in the know, and are planning on issuing a position with all these concerns - it's being thrashed out as we speak :)
Kudos on getting the discussion started though.
Rest assured that MMSA is doing something about this issue. Bear in mind that neither MMSA nor MAM were consulted about this.
Yes, I think people are going to be making money from this, a lot of it. However I also hear that they're going to be trained using models and simulators, thus minimizing the time they will be encroaching on our patients.
It's a very delicate issue, and a massive shame that the health professional bodies and student organisations weren't consulted BUT for better or for worse it's something we're going to have to live with.
It might not be all bad... Competition ups quality of service.
Pawlu, I'm really looking forward to reading MMSA's position on this.
As regards the use of models and simulators, it might be true, but it's common sense that the majority of a medical students' practice has to be done on patients. So I think they are going to be encroaching on 'our' patients quite a lot...
And I really find it suspicious that the RCSI only made this suggestion after the opening of Mater Dei.
I can really see their website introduction : "Our college offers medical studies in the beautiful mediterranean island of Malta, in a state of the art hospital."
What they won't say is : " ...which the Maltese people have paid for, and which we have managed to take away from them (or, at least, from their free, public university) for the benefit of the financially priviledged."
Also, competition in this case will not improve the quality of the public medical school. It will mean less resources for us, and I see no reason why the best of the lecturers -who are already very frustrated with being paid a pittance- won't be recruited to work in the private medical school.
Dear Pawlu
How is a position statement going to help us? It's a done deal! There is no doubt in my mind that our access to patients at "Oh My God" will be restricted. Maybe MAM can make a difference. I hear that nearly all doctors are part of the union, so if they stand together and fight this, we may have a chance...
A position statement is useful because it lets everyone know where we stand on the issue, and gives us a medium with which we can show everyone the concerns we have on this issue. How does this help? Basically it's another document people can use to help make their decisions.
No matter what's said in the papers, this is not a done deal as yet... it's merely at an 'advanced stage', which means that the govt. is actively looking into the project. As yet, the specifics can still be ironed out, and in extreme cases, actually rejected.
There's still scope for change - the big question is how much people are prepared to listen to students' opinion.
The government and the university never listen to students! They just say they do to look good in the media. You guys should work very closely with MAM. United we stand, divided we fall....
Honorable colleagues,
Even humble students like ourselves have power. And politicians know that (or, at least, they have learnt it after 1968).
The problem is, most of us don't realise it. It's high time we did, and used it effectively to protect and maintain the quality of our studies.
Still, I must agree that in this case the interests are far too big, and we need a powerful ally (like MAM) to help us.
If this happens, we can make sure that no-one is going to take away our precious resources and no-one will benefit financially from the downgrading of our course.
Oh, and I am quite disappointed that MMSA's position is still not out. Are you guys writing it in verse or something ?
I hear that MAM is having an emergency meeting very soon. Also, a friend of a friend of a friend's father is on the faculty board and they are meeting on tuesday, so you never know.....
Rhyming couplets, like any good farce :p
Pawlu, that comment was super-LMAO !!! Still, we shouldn't be laughing, because it's more of a tragedy than a farce :-(
At least, we have good news now : the MAM and the faculty are meeting, so something will hopefully happen. Thanks a lot to the anonymous contributor !
Anyway... I'll move on with my blogging, and promise to come back to this issue when there are news !
Now is not the time to be pusillanimous, let us all stand up and be counted.
Wow, I had to look that one up. It means lacking in courage and resolution; fearful; cowardly. Come on MMSA, publish your position paper NOW.
Confirmed...tomorrow emergency faculty board meeting, Dr.Stabile(anatomy and more) will be attending...is there a MMSA representative attending i.e Pawlu or Becca?
Until we know their methods of teaching and more importantly practice we cannot reach any solid conclusion about this matter so I guess we have to wait till tomorrow until we receive any further news about this issue.
"He said the team of trainers would be made up of both Maltese and Irish." - quite worrying. Does this mean that lecturers from university and med-school are going to be recruited by this new institute?
sooo, does anyone know what happened at the faculty board meeting today? Are the professors going to support this hare-brained idea (in exchange for a nice salary), or will they stand up for our rights!!
My friend, whose friend's father is on the board told me that they felt that this irish thing is a good opportunity. There's to be some sort of steering committee to negotiate the terms of the agreement. Apparently members of the National Commission for Higher Education were wined and dined in Dublin before they gave their approval for the go ahead. How disappointing!!
well, well, well....what's new. I have heard that 80% of the faculty are going to be local. Who is going to make sure that our professors don't abandon us? I have heard that the Dean has written to the Government to warn about this. Why has the Rector not spoken out? Does anyone care about us??? Come on MMSA, where is your position statement....
MMSA's concerns have been issued to its member base via the class-servers, as well as a description on what's going on.
Faculty are biding their time, and are apparently asking to be involved in all the discussions. It transpires that faculty are actually on the students' side for once!
Extract from a letter written by the Dean to the Ministers of Health and Education: "The numbers of students being admitted to our medical school every year is frequently disproportionate with the resources and facilities available to sustain high quality teaching and training. Indeed, an in-depth study by the Board of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery in 2004 states that the optimum number of students per clinical year is 54. The average number of students per year currently exceeds 60, and the intake for the MD Degree course in 2007 was 81. Whoever enters into any agreement with another medical school on behalf of the Government of Malta has a clear responsibility to seafeguard the interests of the University of Malta Medical School. Nothing must be done to compromise the teaching facilities of this school and indeed these assets should be protected by all means possible".
At last, a Dean with balls. Where are you MMSA??
"We have been assured that any talks will be held with the students' best interests in mind, and that they are open to further comments and concerns of the students." OMG, MMSA, is this the best you could come up with?
First of all, calm down.
Don't forget that this RCSI business is a private enterprise, and they (the RCSI) have no need to consult any students in their discussions, nor are they required to pay attention to our concerns.
Meanwhile, the UoM is in a much more powerful position, as it's a stakeholder in the resources the RCSI require to open their school. Thus our concerns are their concerns - MMSA has good relations with faculty, and we'll be discussing this with them as things move along, as well as getting feedback.
Meanwhile, while it would be fine and dandy to go tie ourselves to the cannon outside Castille in protest, it's not the way things are done, and discussions are lengthy processes.
On the otherhand (and the rebel in me is very much in favour of what I'm about to say), MMSA is the students' organisation... if enough people write in to the EB to take different stances, they will. There is safety in numbers. No more vitriol on blogs necessary - direct your worries here: info@mmsa.org.mt
No 'anonymous' labels to hide behind there, though...
Dear Pawlu
Absolute hogwash!! There is no safety in numbers. The only safety is anonymity. I don't want to face a professor in my final exam who has a different point of view and might take it out on me.
Whose talking about cannons and chains? I'm talking about making sure that our interests are taken care of. Has the MMSA requested representation on the steering committee mentioned in your position statement. Sure, RCSI don't have to agree, but did you guys ask???
Of course. And MMSA showed its indignation to the NCHE that we were not involved with talks, but we were refused and told that this does not involve us.
Hence at the moment, our only way to have a say in these talks is through the faculty with which, again, we are working.
So it may not look like they're taking the world by storm, but MMSA are doing something.
(incidentally, all very well to be happy with anonymity, but the people on the MMSA exec. are very much in the line of fire. Yes, that's why they're elected, but some respect ought to be afforded yet)
Constructive criticism, as always, is very much welcome.
I agree with Pawlu. MMSA exec are in the line of fire. Maybe that's why they are being so cautious. On the other hand, most of them are 4th and 4th years, so none of this is going to affect them anyway.
Enough said. Here's the constructive part of my post: There's a new steering committee to sort out the details of the school. Do your best to get on it. I'd look into what your union rights are.....
Dear Pawlu
Here's another constructive comment. Come up with a list of proposals that are in our best interests as students, and build on your good relationships with faculty.
You don't have to knock down doors. Plant a few ideas in the minds of whoever is going to be on the steering committee.
Idea 1: I understand the RCSI will be hiring clinical tutors. You could ask for a part of their time to be devoted to teaching US.
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