Rector visits Crimsonwing

Crimsonwing (Malta) Ltd recently invited the Rector, Professor Juanito Camilleri, to visit their offices in Marsa. Professor Camilleri, accompanied by colleagues from the areas of Information Technology and Engineering, was given an informal tour of the building by James Bonello and his management team during which the group discussed issues of mutual interest.

Crimsonwing is a young international company involved in various aspects of IT consultancy, applications management, research and product development. The human resource base of more than 100 is provided chiefly by our University from its four-year B.Sc. IT (Hons) course and its B.Sc. Business and Computing degree.

The management team informed the Rector that this year the company employed some seven fresh graduates out of a total of 15 new recruits and that they expect to increase that intake to around 20 next time around. The Rector said that the intake on the B.Sc. IT (Hons) course this year increased noticeably from the previous year, which bodes well for Malta's economy. He also mentioned the need to target those students who have the capacity to take on pure mathematics at A-level and try to encourage them to consider IT as a career area.

Mr Bonello, Crimsonwing's head of professional services, highlighted the importance of the ICT graduates they are recruiting from the University for the future of the company and said that their versatility is crucial to cater for the changing technical and business requirements of their clients. The management team emphasised the need for ICT specialists to be able to liaise with clients and therefore their language and presentation skills are also of particular value.

The Rector noted that the University should be working with MCAST to make sure that there is synchrony between the two institutions that are providing different types of skills which are complementary within a wider ICT context. A joint approach will benefit both the students and the local economy.

Professor Camilleri said that he was delighted to have visited Crimsonwing and thanked the management for their initiative. He promised to bear in mind all aspects of the informative discussion and to move forward with many of the ideas that had been proposed.