University students were left frustrated as they received an email stating they had been registered for an extra unit, CASP, which they had no knowledge of. With the second semester timetables having already been published weeks prior, with no mention of this unit, students were confused about why they were suddenly registered for this unit without any warning.
Since students were only informed about this extra unit a week prior, students started a petition to remove this unit from their timetable. The petition currently has 1,138 signatures and counting.
What is CASP?
The new university-wide programme ‘Communication and Academic Skills Programme’ (CASP) will need to be followed by current first year students whose faculty falls underneath one of the categories listed below.
- Arts and Humanities
- Life Science
- Physical Sciences
- Social Sciences
The University of Malta had initially abolished the English Language Proficiency study-unit at the beginning of the new scholastic year. Resultantly, the introduction of CASP left many students perplexed following the abrupt decision undertaken by the University of Malta especially since they were only given a week’s notice of such changes.
As per the study-unit description, the programme will take place across the second semester of first year and the first semester of second year. The first study unit, (CSP1000), is common for all students and it will be focusing on foundational writing and presenting skills in the academic context. The second study-unit will be tailored according to the discipline/faculty of that student. It intends to build upon the prior study-unit but accommodate the skills to reflect the working environment for their respective faculties.
Each study unit will account for 4 ECTS respectively, tolling up to 8ECTS additional credits by the final year of studies for a total of 188 ECTS. These will need to be undertaken by all students irrespective whether they obtained a grade C or better in English at Intermediate/Advanced Level causing students to object following their hard work in attaining such grades. As per the current structure, poor attendance or failing in such units will afflict student’s performance as these will be enlisted in the final certificate of their respective course.
Although such skills are essential to have in most workplaces and can give an edge for students in today’s competitive labour environment, many have perceived the units to be implemented in an unjust manner.
What can be done about the situation?
The petition has been set up to remove the CASP study units. In essence, the petition incorporates the notion that these extra units will place a larger burden on the students due to the time that needs to be invested in them, apart from the standard units throughout the year. It further notes that students will be taking on more ECTS than other University graduates in Malta and typical Universities within Europe, causing a disbalance in their studies.
Responses from student organisations
Several students and organisations have raised their concerns regarding the compulsory programme:
Pulse calls on the university administration to revaluate the CASP and ELP programs, to ensure full transparency in the presentation of these units to students, and to take necessary steps to ensure that language education is given the importance it deserves, while protecting the accuracy and fairness of the final certificates of students in their main courses of study and reducing the stress levels of students.
Pulse believes adding more stress to an already stressed student is not the ideal way to go about this, especially as in previous years if one would obtain a C or better in English, either advanced or intermediate, would exclude the student from studying an additional unit.
Pulse
The University of Malta had removed the English Language Proficiency study-unit at the beginning of the scholastic year therefore students who obtained a pass at English Intermediate Level were enough to satisfy the entry requirements. However, University decided to impose this compulsory study-unit (CASP) on all students, leaving students who have tried to get C or better in English Intermediate Level learning very basic skills that they already have.
We would like to reach out to the University of Malta and ask for further clarification on this study-unit since it’s a new concept. With the facts obtained from students up till now we would like to propose that the CASP becomes an optional study-unit, only for students who wish to strengthen their skills to better their marks. However, we do not think it should be compulsory for everyone since everyone has different levels of learning and one shouldn’t be made to sit in lectures re-learning what they already know when they could be working on more preferred student units.
SDM
Furthermore, students have not held back on what they think about this unit, with several students pointing out how hard they already worked to obtain a C or better in their English A level or Intermediate only to still have to sit for this unit.
It was quite an unpleasant shock to find that I had sat for my English A level twice to ensure I got an adequate grade, only to find out it is useless now in regards to UM. It should not be mandatory, but rather an option for those who would like to pursue it.
Students are urged to sign the petition in hopes for this unit to be revaluated or removed altogether.