The Junior Chamber of Advocates ELSA Malta and GฤงSL – Malta Law Students’ Society express the studentsโ disappointment at the disorganisation of administration regarding the process with which students have to apply for the Masters of Advocacy elective units.
As it stands, students have been queueing up outside the Faculty building for several hours throughout the night, in the hope of signing up before the capping cuts them off. This is an unacceptable situation given that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, if anything, that such processes can be done conveniently online.
This is what we are proposing;
– Remove capping for online electives.
– Increase the capping for capped electives to more than 25, like the previous year. – Urge the University administration to adopt modern measures, especially given the large amount of students currently enrolled within this course
– Those who have already applied without second preference, are called back to email their second preference.
In an age where online applications are currently the standard, it is embarrassing to have a large number of students rely on a system which is archaic and unfeasible. Students should have the option to upload their conducts and other details online prior to the opening date of elective registration, thus allowing them to subsequently be able to apply for their electives through e-SIMS as with other students. We also condemn the fact that certain students were allowed to pre-register for electives while others were forced to wait in line with the possibility of not being allowed to choose the elective they want.
It is very worrying to face a situation whereby students are struggling merely to access a subject they seek to learn from. While course capping is understandable, such arbitrary and strict changes, especially compared to the higher capping amounts of previous years, impose an unfair limitation on the students. No student should have to fight for valuable education.
It is also unjust to have students suffer the consequence of administrative mistakes. Such errors encompass the acceptance of elective registrations prior to the indicated times given to the students. As a result of such mishandlings, the students have had to come to faculty more times than necessary and at unreasonable times, to apply for electives which are prohibitively difficult to get into.
We urge the University administration to look upon what is being proposed by the Law organisations and being to adopt modern measures, especially given the large amount of students currently enrolled within this course.
Junior Chamber of Advocates 