Baxxter – please note that you referred to MCAST in your earlier contribution – I reacted to your statement.

As regards to your other observations on MCAST, I’ll simply quote what Lawrence Zammit wrote in an aricle in The Times dated 10 December 2010:

“I strongly believe that the setting up of the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology has been the best thing that happened in education in the last 15 years in this country. The extension of the Mcast campus together with the provision of the top-up degrees is probably the second best thing. Employers will tell you that in certain areas Mcast students are of a better quality than graduates of the University of Malta.

“Apart from the fact that this line of thinking is reminiscent of a conservative socialist mentality, that not even the Labour Party embraces, it is also indicative that some of us refuse to learn from the successes of other countries.”

You may continue to stick to Stacy.

Idiots

Edward, all young Maltese people ought to go through an overseas experience like the one you are on. That would teach them a lesson or two about the world, and how they have to help themselves through life.

I couldn’t go to Malta university since what I wanted to be trained in is not offered in Malta at degree level. So I worked for four years to save the money to study in the UK.

I also gave up ever going for driving lessons and owning a car because I knew my parents would have to be paying extra for my education and thought that the money for such things could be better spent.

I also took out a loan to help get me through. Still falling short of enough money to spend on my tuition I went out and got sponsorship, and luckily I got enough.

My parents help with my rent, which stands at around £255/ month. Rent in London is usually £800 per month for one room to yourself in a flat shared with another two people if you’re lucky, so you can imagine what sort of place I live in.

I got a job at school which means I have to be in at 8am every day even if my first lesson starts at 15:00 or 18:00, because I need the extra cash.

There have been times when my budget has left me eating soup and seven slices of bread for a whole week since I spent my money on theatre tickets, a necessary expense for a drama student. I’m all for traditional Maltese cooking, but after a while even brodu gets old.

My only other income is my stipend, which technically I never see because it goes straight to paying off my loan.

No one forced me to move to the UK, so I am not complaining. It’s supposed to be part of the adventure after all. But the way this Stacy is talking is laughable.

Yes, I was lucky to have found sponsorship. I’m training to be an actor. That’s hardly a secure investment. But rest assured I would not have got a penny if I hadn’t proven that I am a dedicated and hard-working student.

Perhaps I will not become a successful actor, but at least those who helped me out know that they gave their money to someone who tries their hardest. I would feel far too guilty if I didn’t go that extra mile to make their charity worthwhile. Whining would have got me nowhere.

So, what is Stacy complaining about exactly? If she can’t afford a car then she should sell it. There are far too many in Malta anyway, and she doesn’t need one to get to work because she works in Valletta and all buses head straight there. Sounds to me like the only obstacles for Stacy are all in her head.

Couldn’t they have interviewed an over-qualified graduate who has been unemployed for three years and can’t pay his rent?

[Daphne – No, Edward, because there aren’t any. There are only people with jobs and homes, complaining about the price of milk (because we really drink a lot of that), gas and diesel.]

Oh come on, David. This is not vilification. This is the road to stardom. After this, she will soon be giving her opinion everywhere – I mean, on Xarabank (although she has her own car), Bondi+, Affari Taghna, TX, Inkontri ….

True, basic commodities have increased in price, and instead of paying 15 euros a week for fuel, it seems like I’ll be needing an extra tenner a week.

The majority of university students my age drive their own car to university, seeing that going to campus later than 9am is the equivalent of committing parking-harakiri.

The government provides me with a monthly stipend, an annual smart card allowance, and a more-than-decent university education at no cost whatsoever.

True, studying and exams can be very stressful at times, but other than that, student life is such a breeze.

We work for money during the summer, drive our car to university, attend a couple of lectures here and there, have a coffee or three at one of the many cafeterias which are packed day in, day out; eat out at least twice a week, and go on holidays and trips frequently; whilst my friends studying in the UK have to battle with exorbitant tuition fees and housing rent.

‘You’re living in your own bubble’, you might say, thinking I’m some spoilt brat coming from a rich family. The truth is that I come from an average middle class family, with 3 other siblings and two hardworking parents.

This government isn’t faultless, and the Minister’s wage increase was definitely ill-timed;but this is the same government that has turned Malta from a quasi-communist backwater, to a modern and developed European State.

The brainwashed rabble protesting in Valletta might not have the brains to look at the bigger picture, but many others like me shudder at the thought of having that Super 1 joker as President of the European Council in 2017.

Bollocks. I know the inside story of MCAST. It’s a big expensive joke. The vocational courses aren’t vocational at all, because students still have to obtain the national diploma in academic subjects – eek! – Maltese, English and Maths, whose level is less than O Level, and therefore, if we want to be pedantic, they’re not actually sitting for a post-secondary exam. As for the more technical or business-type courses, they produce half-baked graduates. I could write reams about MCAST and University. Let’s stick to Stacy here.

Baxxter – MCAST offers courses at different levels of entry and different exit points.

And you can proceed from one level to another, depending on your potential, up to first degree.

Yes, you can enter MCAST with A Levels, an Ordinary Technician Diploma, a Higher Technician Diploma.

Of course, MCAST is the place where you can obtain both diplomas. And you can join MCAST at the lower levels.

MCAST is the Nationalist Party’s major gift to our young people for the millennium. There is more than one type of tertiary education – vocational and professional education is offered at MCAST ….. as well as at the university.