Resolved: Successful resolution to complaint concerning university graduation scrolls

Resolved: Successful resolution to complaint concerning university graduation scrolls

Published December 11, 2024

The complainant, a member of one of the three branches of the legal profession in Malta, is in possession of several degrees from the University of Malta. Three of these degrees were obtained before 2012 and had been issued in her surname as a married person (then using her husband’s surname).

By deed of separation authorised by the First Hall of the Civil Court (Family Division) sometime after 2012, the complainant reverted to her maiden surname for all intents and purposes of law, and the graduation scrolls with reference to two further subsequent degrees she obtained were issued by the University in her maiden surname.

When she requested that the graduation scrolls of the first three degrees be reissued in her maiden surname, the request was at first refused on the ground that the persons who had originally signed those scrolls had since moved on and were not available.

Following informal discussions between the Commissioner for Education at the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman and the Academic Registrar of the University, the University agreed to reissue those three graduation scrolls in her maiden surname and under the signature of the current Academic Registrar. A formal investigation by the Ombudsman’s Office was thus averted.