2016
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Introduction
The Bye-Laws pertaining to your course may be viewed at:
We welcome you to your programme of studies within the Centre for
Labour Studies (CLS) and hope that you will have a fruitful and
positive experience.
http://www.um.edu.mt/registrar/regulations/faculties/cls
The CLS was established in 1981 and is the oldest existing centre of
the University of Malta. It is an independent, educational,
documentation and research centre which aims to promote
synergies between the world of academia and the world of work
through close collaboration with trade unions, employers and all
those involved in labour relations.
For further details about the Centre’s programmes of study and
other activities, please visit our official website:
www.um.edu.mt/cls
The Centre also maintains a Facebook page
(https://www.facebook.com/uom.cls). Here we post relevant notices
and items of interest. We encourage you to visit and ‘like’ this page
and add content (subject to administration approval).
These guidelines are intended to support you during your studies,
and to enable you to approach your work in an effective manner.
Twitter users may also follow our tweets at the following link:
https://twitter.com/uomcls
We trust that you will find these guidelines useful however; the
content provided does not replace other important information
available online in relation to the University Regulations and the
specific Bye-Laws pertaining to your course
For more information about the Centre’s history and its ongoing
activities, you can read the CLS Biennial Report which is found on
the CLS webpage. Alternatively, ask the secretary to give you a hard
copy.
The University Regulations may be viewed at:
http://www.um.edu.mt/registrar/regulations/general
Here you will find the full information on the General Regulations for
University Undergraduate Awards and the University Assessment
Regulations.
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The Centre for Labour Studies is located in the New
Humanities Building Block B, FEMA (number 15 on Campus Map http://www.um.edu.mt/campusmap)
The Administrative Offices of the CLS are in Room 209 and Room
204. The mailbox of the Centre for Labour Studies is in the same
corridor near Room 206. The noticeboard can be found in the
entrance of the FEMA Building.
Should the Administrative Office be closed, students can leave their
assignments in Mailbox 9 which is on the bottom left side of the unit.
The CLS has a Library where students can be lent various books, long
essays and dissertations. Contact the Administrative Staff for more
information.
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Administrative Staff
Lecturers
The Centre’s Offices are located in the New Humanities Building, Block B (in the same block of the Faculty of Economics,
Mangement and Accountancy – FEMA)
Post
Name
Office
Telephone
Email Address
Director
Dr Anna Borg
Room 207
2340 2723
anna.borg@um.edu.mt
Senior Lecturer
Dr Manwel Debono
Room 201
2340 2729
manwel.debono@um.edu.mt
Assistant
Lecturer
Administrative
Assistant
Mr Luke Fiorini
Room 201
2340 3367
luke.fiorini@um.edu.mt
Ms Josephine Agius
Room 209
2340 2731
josephine.agius@um.edu.mt
Executive Officer
Ms Stephanie
Muscat
Room 204
2340 2727
stephanie.muscat@um.edu.mt
Administrative
Staff
Ms Caroline
Chetcuti
Room 209
2340 3766
caroline.chetcuti@um.edu.mt
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General Information
The University year is divided into two semesters. The first semester
runs from early October to mid-January, and is followed by a 2-3 week
examination period.
The second semester runs from the first week of February to the end
of May and is followed by a month-long examination period.
All study-units carry a European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credit
value. This is a measure of the contact and study time pertaining to
each unit (1 ECTS is equivalent to between 5-7 hours of contact time
and around 25 hours of study time).
Governance
The Centre is run by a Board which includes two student
representatives. Each course has its own Board of Studies which also
includes two student representatives. Students are encouraged to
liaise with their representatives to transmit concerns to the Centre’s
staff.
lectures. Failure to attend lectures may result in students being
barred from assessment.
On the basis of documented evidence, a lecturer may bar a student
whose attendance in a study-unit is not satisfactory from being
assessed in that study-unit. In such cases a 0 mark and an F grade shall
be assigned and recorded.
Furthermore, the University will not excuse students from missing
lectures or other teaching activities, and neither will it tolerate late
submission of assignments or any defaults in coursework due to work
or unauthorised commitments. No rescheduling of lecturing-related
activities, examinations or vivas will be approved to accommodate
such commitments.
Codes of Conduct
Students who fail a study-unit due to ineligibility to take the first
assessment because of failure to satisfy the attendance requirement
shall not be allowed a supplementary assessment, unless in special
circumstances with the approval of the Board of Examiners. In such
cases, the Board of Examiners shall impose special requirements on
the student to make up for the missed teaching sessions.
Attendance
International Travel during Semesters
All students are expected to be punctual and be well prepared for
their lectures and are required to attend at least 80% of the scheduled
Absence abroad during semesters should be approved by the
Director.
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Absence from Examinations
Students who are not able to attend the exam due to exceptional
circumstances or serious reasons, should inform the administrative
staff of the Centre for Labour beforehand and not later than one hour
after the commencement of the examination. In the case of illness,
students are to submit a letter giving details of the missed
examination/s together with the medical certificate which should be
in the form of a letter explaining the reason for absence. These are to
be presented to the Centre within 24 hours following the exam. A
receipt will be issued by the Officer receiving these documents.
Conduct during Lectures
Students must be respectful towards their lecturers and fellow
students. Disruptions during lectures will not be tolerated and reports
of abusive behaviour will be dealt with in the strictest manner.
Students are encouraged to participate in class discussions.
Email Contact with Lecturers and Email Etiquette
Administrative issues such as registration for study units;
administrative matters concerning eSIMS records; examination dates;
Add/Drop forms, etc. should be referred to the Administrative Staff
(Ms Josephine Agius, Ms Stephanie Muscat or Ms Caroline Chetcuti).
please note that there may be some delay in replies at certain periods
during the year—e.g. during the Christmas, Easter and summer
recess.
Pay attention to email etiquette. Use appropriate modes of address.
Your lecturers are professional educators and should be respected as
such.
Reading
Reading is a fundamental component of the course so students are
expected to read widely.
Co-operation
Students are expected to co-operate with all academic, administrative
staff and their fellow students.
Pay Course Fees on Time
Course fees are to be paid on time. Students may be barred from
assessment and their results will not be published if fees remain
unpaid. If you have any queries contact the Finance Office.
Information on method of payment can be found at:
https://www.um.edu.mt/finance/service/coursefees/university_fees_
policy_and_guidelines
Lecturers should only be contacted in relation to academic matters.
Lecturers will do their best to answer students’ emails in good time. A
“gentle reminder” where there has not been a reply may be sent, but
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Communication
All formal correspondence will be sent to the students’ University of
Malta email account. Students should ensure that they maintain
adequate storage space for incoming mail at all times.
Students should check their University of Malta email account on a
daily basis as they may otherwise miss out on important notices such
as cancelled lectures or a change in venue. The University of Malta
email account should also be checked during recess periods. It may be
useful to forward your University e-mails to your main account, which
you use on a daily basis.
Postponment of Lectures
The administrative staff, on behalf of an academic member of staff,
will inform students by e-mail of the postponment of a lecture. An
SMS notification will be sent only in case the information needs to be
communicated to the students within 24 hours.
eSIMS
Students are expected to familiarise themselves with eSIMS. This is
the Student Information Management System. Students may view
their academic record as well as their personal and course details
through eSIMS.
eSIMS is the forum through which you should register for study-units
and DegreePlus activities and annual enrolment. The publication of
study-unit results is also carried out online through this system.
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Students are also expected to familiarise themselves with the
University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The VLE is a webbased learning environment, through which lecturers can interact
with students. It will be used to provide learning materials and notices
for various study-units, in electronic format. More information can be
obtained from: https://www.um.edu.mt/vle
In case of difficulty you may send an e-mail to:
vle.itservices@um.edu.mt
Assessment
Assessments may take various forms such as assignments,
examinations, presentations and other methods as identified in each
study-unit description.
Lectures together with the relevant Board of Examiners have the
discretion to award the final mark and grade they deem fair.
An assessment may be held during and/or at the end of the semester
and it may be split into several components (e.g. 50% assignment;
50% exam). Exams are only held during the examination periods at
the end of each semester.
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If students fail an assessment, they will have the opportunity of being
re-assessed in the particular component/s. This is not applicable to
components assessed through a group presentation.
Assignments will be returned to students two weeks after the
publication of results. The Centre reserves the right to dispose of
assignments that are not collected by the stipulated deadline.
The Supplementary exam session is held in September and the
Maximum mark/grade one can achieve during re-sit is 45% (D*).
Plagiarism
Assignments
Students are expected to be critical, reflective and analytical in their
assignments. Simply reproducing lecture notes and being descriptive
will not earn good marks.
All students are to put the CLS assignment cover sheet at the
beginning of their assignment and they are to include the word count
in their assignments. The link to the CLS assignment cover sheet is:
http://www.um.edu.mt/cls/student_resources
Assignments are to be proof read and correctly referenced in
accordance to the APA style of reference. The following is the link to
the APA Style website: http://www.apastyle.org/
Plagiarism is the passing off as your own work material written by
others. This is considered as a serious breach of conduct. Strict
disciplinary action will be taken in all instances where plagiarism is
noted.
If in any doubt concerning what constitutes plagiarism or how to
avoid it, we suggest you consult the guidance documents issued by
the University of Malta, available at the following link:
http://www.um.edu.mt/registrar/student-conduct
Students may also refer to the Student’s Charter which may be found
at http://www.um.edu.mt/studentscharter/studentscharter
Dissertation
In relation to supervision of dissertations, students are entitled to four
face-to-face/Skype meetings to discuss the research process.
Students are to submit a hard copy of their assignment, as well as a
soft copy through Turnitin via the UoM VLE. Turnitin is an electronic
text-matching software used by universities to detect plagiarism.
Further information about Turnitin is available at the following link:
http://www.um.edu.mt/vle/pds/students
Students are expected to stick to the set deadlines and to submit their
assignments on time. Failure to do so shall result in penalties.
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Marking and Grading
The table below shows how grades are awarded:
Descriptor
Work of exceptional quality.
Exceptional performance showing comprehensive
understanding and application of the subject
matter. Evidence of extensive additional
reading/research/work.
Work of excellent quality.
Superior performance showing a comprehensive
understanding of the subject matter. Evidence of
considerable additional reading/research/work.
Work of very good quality.
Performance is typified by a very good working
knowledge of subject matter. Evidence of a fair
amount of reading/research/work.
Work of good quality.
Above average performance, with a working
knowledge of subject matter. Evidence of some
reading/research/work.
Work of average quality.
Considerable but incomplete understanding of the
matter. Evidence of little reading/research/work.
Work of fair quality.
Basic understanding of the subject matter. No
evidence of additional reading/research/work.
Mark
Range
Grade
95%-100%
A+
80%- 94%
A
75%- 79%
B+
70%- 74%
B
65%- 69%
C+
55%- 64%
C
Minimal understanding of the subject matter, with
no evidence of additional reading/research/work.
Marginal Pass.
Marginal performance, barely sufficient
preparation for subsequent courses in the same
area.
Pass - when assessment is based on a Pass/Fail
basis only for study-units that are used for
establishing eligibility to progress or for the
award but are not taken in consideration for
calculating the student’s progress and for award
classification purposes.
Compensated Pass. Performance in the
assessment of a study-unit, except a noncompensatable unit, that is deemed to be just
below marginal pass but is deemed to be
compensatable by good performance in other
units. (vide regulation 50. )
Narrow failure that however is not compensated
by good performance in other units.
Unsatisfactory, failing work in any study-unit.
Unsatisfactory, failing work in a noncompensatable study-unit.
Unjustified absence for an assessment, or failure
to hand in assigned work in time, or ineligibility
to take assessment due to unapproved absence
from lectures. Shall be considered as F with 0
marks in the calculation of the average mark.
50%- 54%
D+
45%- 49%
D
Not
Applicable
P
35%- 44%
CP
35%- 44%
F
0%- 34%
0%- 44%
F
F
0%
F
Work of rather low quality.
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The Bachelor’s degree is awarded in one of four classes:
Publication of Results
Classification
Percentage
Results of study-units are published on eSIMS. Students will receive an
email through eSIMS, to indicate that results have been published. No
study-unit or dissertation results are placed on the Centre for Labour
Studies’ noticeboard.
First Class
80% and above
Second Class Upper
70-79%
Second Class Lower
55-69%
Third Class
45-54%
Award, Graduation and Classification
On successful completion of the programme of studies, students will
typically graduate in the following November or December.
The diploma is awarded in one of three categories:
In case of any difficulties throughout your course, please do not
hesitate to contact us. We are freely available to assist you and will
endeavour to help you out to the best of our abilities.
Classification
Percentage
Final Note
Pass with Distinction
100-80%
Pass with Merit
79-70%
We look forward to seeing our students graduating after the end of a
successful academic journey.
Pass
69-45%
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