Malta takes lead in EU project to offer rare degree

The University of Malta is to lead a project involving eight European universities aimed at offering a masters degree in environmental education through distance learning.

The European Masters Programme in Environmental Education (EMPEE) is an Erasmus action project within the European Union's Socrates programme, awarded to the environmental education section of the university's Department of Maths, Science and Technical Education.

Only the second of its kind in Europe, the project was initiated by the department's Dr Paul Pace, who will also co-ordinate it.

Ensuring a good quality of environment is one of the European Commission's top priorities and environmental education has been repeatedly identified as a crucial element in any effective environmental protection strategy, said Dr Pace.

However, opportunities aimed at developing environmental educators have been relatively lacking. So far there have only been five universities around the world offering a masters degree in the field through distance learning - and only one is offered by a European university.

"Consequently, an unprepared and inadequate workforce is filling the ever-increasing number of jobs requiring an expertise in environmental education. The purpose of the degree is to address this need," said Dr Pace.

Besides Malta, the project brings together environmental education experts from universities in Cyprus, England, Israel, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland.

EMPEE's main goal is to pool their expertise and resources and to present a menu of study modules from which students can choose according to their particular research interest.

Once the programme is launched, a student may register for EMPEE in one of the participating universities on a part-time or full-time basis. The host university would also provide a tutor who would negotiate a programme of studies with the student and supervise his or her research project.

Although the programme is forecast to start functioning in the academic year 2003/4, expressions of interest have already been received from universities in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Russia and Sweden.