In a press release issued by the CoE they explained how a number of meetings had been held with the Engineering Board from which the following conclusions were drawn:

• The past MCAST graduates should bridge any deficiencies through targeted bridging studies comprised of 60 ECTS credits at level 6 with examination based assessment. These bridging studies should be reviewed by external reviewers
• The new MCAST courses should have 240 ECTS credits at level 6 again based mostly on examination assessment as well as being reviewed annually by external reviewers

Regardless of these agreements, the Engineering Board informed the CoE that the pre-warrant course would be only of 30 ECTS credits Level 6. This meant that MCAST Engineering students would only be doing a total of 150 ECTS credits at level 6 rather than a full 240 ECTS credits that was required by law to get a warrant and that University students were doing.

This was a continuation from last year’s controversy which broke out because MCAST students were going to be given warrants regardless of the discrepancy between the UM and MCAST courses. Whilst the UM course is of 240 ECTS MQF Level 6, the MCAST course consisted of 120 ECTS MQF Level 5 (first and second year) and another 120 ECTS MQF Level 6 (third and fourth year).

Following talks between KSU, UESA, the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects and the Engineering Board in September 2018 it was agreed upon that the underlying principle behind this process of introducing a Pre-Warrant Qualification Course must remain “one profession, one standard”. This is why UESA and KSU are in agreement that moving forward these courses should be made equivalent by any means and not have half the intended course substituted by 30 ECTS.

When contacted by The Third Eye, Matthew Xuereb, outgoing UESA President [who is in office till the end of May] gave his statement in light of how the situation is developing:

UESA believes that any solution related to this issue must be realised in a spirit of transparency such that the interests of our members are safeguarded.

Having said this, we look forward to further dialogue with the hope of resolving such a sensitive issue. In the meantime UESA is considering all options available to safeguard the interests of Engineering students at the University of Malta.

Both KSU and UESA have published press releases to voice their concerns as to how this agreement was disregarded without any further consultation with the stakeholders involved.

UESA have asked for an immediate revision of the currently ongoing Pre-Warrant Qualification Course “so as to ensure that students who complete this course are in possession of such degree of the University of Malta or an equivalent academic qualification as stipulated in the Engineering Profession Act.”

The lack of transparency, consultation and the refusal by the relevant authorities to recognize and address the serious concerns of students, graduates and warrant-holders alike risks damaging society’s trust in the engineering profession.

UESA, University Engineering Students Association

UESA continued to stress how this lack of transparency is increasingly prevalent considering that MCAST has apparently also refrained from publishing any details about the bridging studies course, with no mention of such course in its annual prospectus.

KSU echoed UESA’s laments and both stated that looking forward they are actively considering all options available to safeguard the interests of our members.

The Chamber of Engineers concluded that an EGM shall be held in the coming days to give the opportunity to everyone to express their views on the way forward from here.

The post Engineering Board Gives MCAST Students HALF the ECTS Agreed Upon For Warrant appeared first on The Third Eye.

Following a meeting between UESA, KSU, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board of Engineers and the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, which took place on the 25th September 2018, UESA discussed the resolution mandated by the Extraordinary General Meeting of 13/09/2018.

In our meeting there was a widespread agreement on the principle of one profession, one standard. This augurs well for future developments.
The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the board and the Minister were sympathetic to our request in having the programme of study of the previous MCAST Engineering Course, of the proposed amended course as well of the abridgement course published on accessible media.

Dr. Noel Camilleri as Chairman emphasised that the upcoming abridgement course will be verified by an international organisation, ENEA which will make sure that the content of this course contains the material that was absent or incomplete in the previous course. Discussions are underway to ensure that this course is composed of 30-60 ECTS credits.
The new course by MCAST during its initial years will be reviewed periodically by multiple international reviewing organisations. This will ensure that the standard promoted by ASIIN through their recommendations is retained.

The representatives from the Board of Engineers and the Minister stated that the reports by ASIIN which audited the courses of MCAST and the University of Malta can only be published with the consent of MCAST, the University of Malta and then the Board itself. UESA unequivocally appeals for these reports to be published and we request all parties to give their consent.
Whilst UESA acknowledges that the entry requirements to a course is not set by the Engineering Board, we appeal for this requirement to be on par with that of the University of Malta i.e. a grade C or better in both Pure Mathematics and Physics. For those choosing the A Level route to an engineering course, attaining these grades is a fundamental part of one’s eventual formation as an engineer.

UESA commits itself to follow this ongoing process, as representatives of all engineering students at the University of Malta the interests of our members remains at the centre of our activity in this regard. We look forward to keeping a spirit of dialogue and consultation with all relevant stakeholders.

The post Statement following a meeting with Minister Ian Borg and the Board of Engineers appeared first on The Third Eye.

“Following today’s EGM, 137 UESA members have unanimously agreed on a number of proposals related to the announced changes to the engineering warrant. These points will be discussed and put forward in the coming days during meetings with the Chamber of Engineers, the Minister for Infrastructure, the Engineering Board, the Faculty of Engineering and other concerned parties. The following were discussed and agreed upon during the EGM:

• Currently, there is a lack of transparency as to what the content of the course offered by MCAST is;
• Both Engineering students at the University of Malta and UESA, as the official student representative body, have not been consulted on the upcoming changes to the Engineering Profession Act;
• The Ministries concerned intend to amend the Engineering Profession Act to satisfy the demands of MCAST engineering graduates and students, however they have failed to listen to University of Malta Engineering graduates and students which are to date legitimate stakeholders in the Engineering profession;
• Going forward, we believe that any amendments should be discussed with all stakeholders involved, particularly students which are future professionals;
• To date, there is little clarity as to who will accredit the abridgement course which will allow MCAST Engineering graduates to sit for the Engineering Warrant interview;

The complete resolution agreed upon during the EGM will be published following the discussions with the stakeholders. On another note, UESA would like to express its disappointment towards the comments put forward by the Minister for Education and Employment – the Hon. Minister Evarist Bartolo towards engineering students at the University of Malta. These comments do not augur well for an environment of constructive dialogue.”

Photo Credits: UESA

The post “Ministries have failed to listen to UoM graduates about the Engineering profession” – UESA appeared first on The Third Eye.

We asked UoM engineering students and graduates to chime in on this issue. The following are their comments.

“It is unfair and unprofessional giving MCAST Engineering students and graduates the opportunity of receiving the Engineering Warrant” said UoM students and graduates.

To them, the UoM course is way more demanding than the MCAST course. In their words, assignments are tougher, subjects which span over multiple semesters at UoM are condensed at MCAST and lecturers at UoM are less lenient than those at MCAST when it comes to marking. The latter is seen in certain subjects which cause a drastic decrease in first year UoM students like in a particular year in which 110 starting students dropped to around 80 students from first to second year due to the tough nature of the course.

Some other comments which sparked interested stated that if they want to identify MCAST and UoM students as equals, then the entry requirements must be equal to those of UoM and the assessments given to MCAST students on par with those of UoM.

Current UoM students argued that particular students currently in the MCAST engineering course have part time jobs in a demanding position or work whilst students at UoM could barely enjoy free time during the four-year course, adding to the imbalance of the courses. The MCAST course has since the writing of this article changed the course requirements needing applicants’ grades to be an average of C or better. So an A and E in physics and maths A-Level is still sufficient to be eligible for the course commencing 2019. Previous students could be eligible with both maths and physics at grade E.

Another issue outlined by students is that students applying for an engineering course know the difference between MCAST and UoM outcomes. The UoM course comes with a degree and the possibility of a warrant, whilst (up until now) the MCAST course did not offer a warrant after graduating. The fact that students applying for MCAST with the full knowledge of not being able to receive a warrant after graduation and then fighting for one angered many UoM students.

To them this means that a school specialised in training highly skilled technicians (MCAST), is going over and above their capacity, and training fully qualified and warranted engineers in just two extra years after having completed the MCAST diploma. Students argued that this will therefore decrease the UoM applicants as these will choose the easy way out of the course and they will still get full recognition even though the calibre of the course is different.

Some other students said that not only is the UoM course tougher than the MCAST course, but it also competes with the rest of the EU and they said that clear proof of this is in ERASMUS exam marks, in which Maltese students achieve better grades abroad than locally for the same subject’s equivalent with the same amount of study work. In turn, students said that there are those who apply for MCAST and after completing their studies apply for the UoM course just to be eligible for the warrant, meaning that these students ‘wasted’ time. These same students are seeking a form of compensation for wasted time. Adding to this, some students also said that they know people who failed the UoM course after repeating a year in said course and then applied for the same course at MCAST and their grades suddenly shot up.

“Il-linja ta’ Inginier m’ghadiex worth it. U mil-lum ‘il quddiem, izjed. U nhossni hlejt 5 snin minn hajti” – An engineering graduate from UoM that upon completing MCAST studies applied to the UoM course.

“Mur gib kirurgu li dahal ghall-kors bla bazi ta’ bijologija O-level x’ konna nghidu.” – Implying that society does not care as much about engineers as it does for other fields.

“Jaghmel sens li inginiera (ta’ UoM) ikunu jafu x-xoghol kollu, hands-on u teorija, imma mbaghad ma naqbilx li ghax taghmel 80% hands on (MCAST) titqies ta’ inginier warranted.” – Implying the great difference between the two courses.

“Immagina taghmilha t-tobba jew l-avukati x’hassle jinqala’” – Implying that giving the possibility of a warrant to MCAST graduates in the health and law fields would cause uproar from UoM students in the same situation.

The last issue that was brought forward was that working engineers are rarely paid for overtime and are also not paid enough, this means that an unwarranted worker with a lower ranking in the same company can easily reach the same salary as a warranted engineer working extra unpaid hours.

This is not an elitism issue – this is a professional one. The crux of the issue is not “Your course is easier than ours, and so we feel it’s unfair that you should get equal recognition”, but rather “Your course lacks certain key elements that are fundamental to engineering, and so it is unfair that an MCAST graduate be given the same merits as a university graduate”. It stems from a gross misunderstanding of what an engineering professional does.

A student does not choose to go to university to get their BEng simply for the brownie points of “attending uni”, in the same way that a practical arts student might choose to go to university over MCAST (which some argue would be the preferred institution). An engineer goes to university because engineering is not a vocational field, and requires extensive academic training, on par with scientists and medical doctors. It is therefore important, now more than ever, that the general public realises what the true job of an engineer is, if they are to appreciate the concerns raised by Engineers and UoM students.

A particular comment stood out in The Times of Malta’s article by lecturer Marc Anthony Azzopardi saying “Every year more and more students are choosing to undertake the Engineering course offered by MCAST rather than the one offered by the University of Malta because they think that it is easier. The real reason behind this is that the University’s Engineering course goes into further depth and teaches students both practical and theoretical aspects. Giving students of both institutions the same qualifications is unfair to current University students and will keep worsening the University’s student intake.”

KSU and UESA (University Engineering Students’ Association) have since released comments regarding the matter and said that “as long as there is equality in standards between the engineering courses in both institutions, any engineering student in either institution should have the right to sit for an interview and be granted the warrant.” Meaning that there is the need for equal standards between the highly similar yet opposing courses.

More importantly KSU and UESA request that the full results of the evaluation carried out by German experts, the ASIIN (Akkreditierungsagentur für Studiengänge der Ingenieurwissenschaften, der Informatik, der Naturwissenschaften und der Mathematik e. V.) meaning Accreditation Agency for Degrees of Engineering, Computer Science, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, who evaluated both UoM and MCAST engineering courses, to be made public for clarity’s sake.

The post “Why did I even bother getting the degree from UoM?”, UoM Engineering Graduate appeared first on The Third Eye.

The post Junior Chamber of Advocates speaks about the issue of Awarding Warrants to Convicted Law Students appeared first on The Third Eye.