A vision for tomorrow: University without walls

For the University to remain central to the country's development, it must evolve - with its academic staff engaged in national-level decisions with the full use of their expertise and aided by modern technology.

Our University's origins lie mainly with the preparation of professionals in the areas of religion, law, medicine, architecture and arts. Both during their student years with their professors as well as after graduating, these professionals have participated in the country's development and well being throughout the years.

This type of participation is still very relevant. Commercial companies have recently been mushrooming. However, rather than making academics hide behind the walls of an ivory tower, commercial industry should serve as an opportunity for academics to move out of the University to areas where they can focus their skills and brains to ensure a sustainable development, which takes both rational and economic aspects into account.

The extent of this development varies across universities in Europe, depending on international and local factors. But independently of the industrial development that is currently taking place in our country, in any field of human activity, be it educational, medical, ICT, engineering or tourism, it is vital that we have a vision for the future: the needs of the country are increasing and becoming more complex, and if the University is to stay central to the country's agenda, its participation and its services must evolve.

Reflecting on the professional and technological development in Europe, including those taking place over the years in Malta and at our University, it is possible to picture how participation in the University could be configured in future.

As academic staff at the University have taken on more duties, they have increasingly relied on administrative and technical staff to take on management roles. In many UK universities, administrative and technical staff now work alongside academics at several levels, reviewing their universities' needs such as those related to buildings or laboratories, organising the supply of goods or student records, or even discussing these needs with academic staff and students. This ought to allow academics additional time to become more involved in satisfying national needs outside their university.

The introduction of several technological and computerised systems should also relieve the academic staff from an enormous amount of paperwork. The development of simplified examination systems could release staff from the laborious marking of scripts in addition to the possibility of having less biased examinations.

IT has developed fast. The use of electronic systems in education is already a reality in some units at our University, while it is now on the horizon in other areas. Pulling all these strands together, what might a university of the future look like?

The academics would develop a teaching plan with the individual students. The plan would then be made available electronically and after checking that it meets the requirements of the University and that it satisfies the professional, academic, and quality norms, as well as ensuring its cost-effectiveness, the plan would be authorised.

The administrative and technical staff would organise the supplies needed, such as laboratory chemicals and equipment, as well as placement arrangements.

The students would carry out their educational activities as agreed and send the assignments electronically to the academics. The work submitted would be assessed, preferably with the aid of technology, and after the necessary quality control checks, such as the exclusion of plagiarism and other controls are undertaken, the student would be awarded the grade and the credits.

Staff and students would also be able to contribute more to research activities.

This revamping of facilities at the University would empower its academic staff to contribute more fully to educate more capable graduates while helping outside operators in various industries to become more efficient, thereby raising the nation's competitiveness as a whole and enticing foreign investors to come to participate in the bonanza.

Once this is achieved it will become necessary to re-examine the University's vision in terms of the changing scenarios at that time. In this way, the University will be developing in a way that continues to meet the country's needs well into the future.