Degreeplus subject extended to all university students

A stream of degreeplus has been extended to all University students, and not only to first years. The stream - voluntary work - was extended due to the many requests received from students who are not in their first year of their university course. The applications closed last Monday.

Voluntary work was one of five subjects, together with entrepreneurship, ICT, languages, and culture and heritage, which were launched under the degreeplus scheme at the beginning of this scholastic year. The aim was to give students a rich and full university experience in parallel with their university courses.

It seems that degreeplus is fulfilling the promise for many of the students, as two first year science students describe their experience so far.

Oriana Mazzitelli, who is reading B.Sc.Hons in chemistry and biology, says her experience within the culture and heritage stream proved more interesting than she expected.

After hearing a lot about degreeplus from S3, the Science Students' Society, and after being encouraged by Professor Joseph Grima, a lecturer within the Department of Chemistry, she joined around 30 more students from different courses to learn about culture, heritage and history, subjects which she never studied at school but which appealed to her, especially since they provided an interesting mix to her science subjects.

Students taking culture and heritage are accompanied on guided visits to various museums and sites with the aim of providing the students with a broad knowledge about Malta's cultural heritage. Last Wednesday, the students visited Limestone Heritage and Hagar Qim, two places of interest which the younger generation could appreciate with a more mature approach.

"The subjects allow the students an important mid-week break, which is informative and educational, and thus help the students concentrate more in their studies when they resume their routine. The degreeplus subjects have become almost like a hobby, because they are not university credits and they are not subject to exams, and I will surely participate again in the next semester," said Ms Mazzitelli.

"Although degreeplus is very well organised, the only aspect I would improve on is the number of hours allocated to the subjects, especially to culture and heritage. Transportation to the different sites is included in the two-hour slot, which reduces the time allocated to the guided visits," she observed.

As to the skills which may be acquired, Ms Mazzitelli said that although the topics were unrelated to her science course, her degreeplus topics generated a lot of general knowledge, which could help her both in her future career and even if she were to take up a job abroad.

Clare Mifsud, another B.Sc.Hons (Chemistry and Biology) first year student, was similarly struck in a positive way by her choice of ICT subject to complement her lectures in sciences.

She first learnt about the scheme through an informative meeting held during Freshers' Week, during which the students were briefed about "an opportunity which would help them to learn about subjects unrelated, but helpful, to their chosen university course and their careers".

Ms Mifsud said: "Research is extremely important in my course, and the ICT course helps us learn how to undertake research in a correct manner. This is particularly helpful especially since the B.Sc. course does not teach ICT skills in detail.

"Knowing how to conduct research in the right way, especially today where most of the research is carried out online and since the Internet offers so many varied sources, it is also helpful for my career, and not just while I'm studying at university.

"I was spoilt for choice in choosing a topic since I find all of them appealing and cover practically every area of interest. Furthermore, the fact that no particular requisites were required was an added bonus."

Both students said that the fact that degreeplus subjects did not count towards the credit system was actually an advantage because this meant that there were no exams at the end of the semester, and therefore the subjects could be followed at a leisurely and comfortable pace. It also meant that the students who were following the courses did so out of sheer interest and not in partial fulfillment of any of their courses.