Universities today must meet international standards in research and teaching and if the institution is graded low quality it would be disastrous in the long term, the dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dominic Fenech, has warned.
He argued that investment in research should be given more importance than stipends and supported the comments of his colleague John Betts, dean of Engineering, who has urged a reform of the stipend system.
Prof. Fenech likened Dr Betts to the little boy in Hans Christian Andersen’s tale The Emperor’s New Clothes, who highlighted the obvious when he pointed out that the king was parading naked, when no other subject would speak out.
He said that if it was a case of prioritising between spending the available cash on stipends for all students or upgrading university services and activity, then the latter should be “the higher priority”, for the benefit of the students and the country.
His faculty does not share the same constraints as other technology-driven faculties.
“But that is not to say that we are satisfied with the facilities and the infrastructure we have. As for pursuing more ambitious research projects, especially where travel abroad is concerned,...
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