Pros and Cons of Postponing first year at University of Malta

This short article lists the advantages and disadvantages of the suggestion to postpone opening first year at University of Malta as recommended in a separate article. I split these by stakeholder involved and would like invite any comments in order to update this paper.

First years

This is the cohort that are mostly affected by this recommendation.

Pros

• First years can still chose an accelerated route and graduate by 2023.
• Right now first years are sitting for their A Levels (and intermediate levels) in September, starting immediately university in October, prospectively having A level resits in December, assignment deadlines probably in December and then again university exams in January. First semester of first year is the year with the highest drop-out rate under normal circumstances - this makes life harder.
• A/I level exams can be spread over a larger timeframe in order to accommodate for social distancing.
• Students can actually chose a major after reviewing their A/I results. For example it is very likely that someone would not chose Engineering if they did terribly in Physics or Math.
• The quality of face to face teaching is higher as university staff are not well versed in online lecturing.

Cons

• They might consider themselves as being sacrificial lambs.
• They have a substantial part of a year as a gap year - possibly stuck inside and with little to no prospects of finding a job. It might be a good idea to develop new skills or charitable work. It might however have longer lasting negative effects.
• The fast route may be very stressful. However I do not think it is as stressful as the current suggestion of A/I levels followed immediately by university.

Members of Staff

The second most affected group are probably the members of staff. Here are some Pros and Cons.

Pros

• Simple and clear.
• Teaching loads not significantly affected.
• Safer environment due to less crowded campus.
• Teaching online is very stressful.
• The lower teaching load in the next scholastic year might mean more research time.

Cons

• Some might have to teach during summer. Editor comment: I am sure many would comply - academics are reasonable. There are fired pilots and workers with less than half the salary - working two summers is not a major issue. Moreover teaching over two summers is much less stressful than online teaching (at least from my end)
• An accelerated year is much more difficult to manage than transferring academic content into an online platform. Editor Comment: No it is not, see the plan here - it only means two extra sessions held.
• There is increased teaching in summer. Editor Comment: Actually there is decreased teaching. The summer teaching is Y2S2 in 2021/22 and Y3S2 in 2022/23 - that is minimal. This is not repeated semesters - for example Y2S2 would only be held in summer that year. Moroever there would be no first year lectured in 2020/21 and no Y2S1 in 2021/22.

Other Students

Pros

• There may be more space for them to actually be lectured in a safe manner.
• Safer environment due to less crowded campus.

Cons:

• Students with resits may have difficulties. Then again we can always open these small classes for such cohorts.

Other comments

Pros:

• A simple alteration would be to start a semester late. That doesn't mean kicking the can down the road but pacing ourselves. A/I students would also have a breather.
• It can be a hybrid solution. For example: (a) not open some courses such as courses with significant number of students; (b) use a random numeris-clausus.

Cons:

• It disrupts the economy of a country. Editor Comment: Possibly but minimally. Students would not miss a year. There are are complete industries that are being wiped out (tourism). Adding an element of anti-fragility to university won't do a comparable damage.
• It means there are double students in 2021/22
• Study-units held over a year are not considered. Editor Comment: They can be treated as Semester 1 or 2. Or else held still over two semesters since Y1, Y2 and Y3 follow each other in the proposed plan.

Please be aware that the thoughts presented here are not the thoughts of my employer or my department.