Three organisations, namely Moviment Graffitti, Pulse and S-Cubed, have said that the KSU Freshers’ Week should be a week during which new university students will have the opportunity to meet other students, to speak to different organisations, meet fellow student activists and to familiarise themselves with the University of Malta.

Instead, they said, “this week is going to be taken over completely by the many companies which sponsor the Kunsill Studenti Universitarju (KSU) and which will occupy the central spaces at the University of Malta.”

In a joint statement, the organisations said that “the central quadrangle in front of Students’ House, Parking Number 4 and the space leading to the Gateway building are going to be dominated by private companies and commercial enterprises which have nothing to do with university students’ educational experience.”

“During a week where we are supposed to be celebrating the work of students, the KSU chose to serve the interests of private companies whose only purpose is profit,” the organisations added.

They argued that “for another consecutive year, organisations have been relegated to a restricted space in front of the main university library where there will be a lot of crowds and heat. As in previous years, the confusion and the loud music during this time will be a nuisance to students working in the library or attending lectures in the vicinity of these spaces.”

For the past two years, Studenti Graffitti and Pulse said that they have called for a change in the way that Freshers’ Week is organised.

“We would like student organisations and academics to be at the core of this week’s activities, where they will occupy the majority of spaces with activities for students and academics within the University of Malta. Despite these calls over the past two years (2022 and 2023) the KSU did nothing. Therefore, we are joining two other organisations, Pulse and S-Cubed, to get our message across,” they said.

The three organisations concluded by saying that, “we believe that activities organised by students should be at the centre of this special week. We also believe that KSU should be assisted financially by the University of Malta so that the financial burden is shared. We urge KSU to strive to make immediate changes in the infrastructure and planning of Freshers’ Week and to put the interests of students first and foremost.”

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