Technology is seeping into research and academic writing, and the shift towards labour-market facilitation rather than academic curation is changing the knowledge and learning landscape. Such shifts, however, are set against cultural biases in subjects and traditional, outdated academic structures, even as universities try to evolve.
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The University of Malta is central to our knowledge economy, and yet it is chronically underfunded. The University performs well despite underfunding, so imagine the heights that could be scaled with more adequate support.
My idea? Scrap the scandalously outmoded stipends system. Instead, make student financial support entirely elective (students decide whether they want support); money is then given to students as an interest-free loan, which they only start to repay once they have graduated and are earning more than a minimum threshold salary. The money saved would be directed into research, postgraduate and postdoctoral initiatives, and infrastructure and technology.