European Summer School in Gerontology and Geriatrics

Between July 14 and 24, Professor Joseph Troisi, head, Division of Gerontology and Geriatrics, University of Malta, and deputy director of the United Nations International Institute on Aging, participated in a European Summer School on "Aging and Health in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities" organised in Valencia, Spain, by the Consortium of the European Master's Degree Programme in Gerontology.

Last November, Professor Troisi was nominated as a member of the European consortium responsible for the running of the European Master's Degree Programme in Gerontology (EuMaG).

This programme, which is funded by the European Union, is projected to start in February. As a preparation, a summer school was organised which was attended by 22 participants from the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

These included health professionals, policymakers, scientists and people professionally involved in gerontology/geriatrics, as well as students in the various fields of aging.

The Maltese participants were Claudette Gauci and Anthony Scerri, who have a post-graduate certificate in Gerontology and Geriatrics and who are now reading for their Master's degree.

The multi-disciplinary programme, which consisted of lectures, workshops, group discussions, project formulation, etc., was directed by an international core staff of 11 experts in the various fields of social gerontology and gerontology coming from universities all over Europe, including Professor Troisi.

The participants were also addressed by high officials from the EC Directorate of Public Health and Consumer Protection, as well as from the sixth framework.

This 10-day summer school programme, which was partially funded by the European Commission, was aimed at providing participants with detailed theoretical and empirical knowledge in the field of social and health care policy, social protection for dependency in old age, and health and aging with a specific focus on international comparative aspects.

The summer school provided students with the understanding of the meaning of added value in European Community-wide and international collaboration, enabled participants to contribute effectively to the planning and policymaking in the field of ageing on the European arena, and facilitated networking and co-operation among participants from different present and future member states in the EU.

During the same period, Professor Troisi participated in two meetings of the consortium of the European Master's Degree Programme in Gerontology. The University of Keele, UK, and the University of Malta agreed to collaborate closely in sharing the credits in Social Gerontology. Other European universities will be responsible for credits in other areas of gerontology and geriatrics. It was also agreed to run another summer school next year.