This past week the University celebrated its Foundation Day. On November 22, 1769, Grand Master Pinto issued the decree transforming the legacy of the Collegium Melitense into a public university in the Bologna tradition.

It is also customary to hold the graduation ceremonies during November. Since there are over 2,400 students graduating this year, the ceremonies will spill over to December.

This year's celebrations also coincide with the transfer of the Institute of Health Care (IHC) as well as the clinical departments of the faculties of Medicine and Surgery and Dentistry to Tal-Qroqq at the new Mater Dei Hospital.

The promise that the IHC and the medical school were to have their own premises could not be kept and therefore the faculties have had to settle for space allocated from what was planned to be part of the administration at Mater Dei.

Although most teaching takes place at the bedside there are some problems related to formal lectures, especially when there are more than 100 students in class since the lecture rooms at Mater Dei take a maximum of 80.

These teaching problems are being solved through the great efforts of all staff and through the continued use of the old medical school.

One hopes that the Government will compensate the University for not keeping its promise of new adequate buildings for teaching and research for the medical sciences by offering extra finance to upgrade and maintain the "old" medical school.

It would be a pity if this Government is recorded in history as suffocating our 400 year old medical school through lack of physical space.

We are confident that with everyone's common sense and goodwill a solution will be found. Such goodwill was witnessed in the transfer from St Luke's to Mater Dei Hospital.

During a press conference held on November 13, University rector Juanito Camilleri spoke of how the University is working on its outstanding past achievements to secure a bright future.

In addition to strengthening the teaching and research in the medical sciences, the University is looking ahead and has submitted requests to finance the building of an IT services centre, the extension of the Junior College, the new Faculty of ICT, and the furnishing and equipping of state-of-the-art science and engineering laboratories.

The University is not only investing in buildings but also in human resources.

This year it has employed around 100 additional staff, of which about 75 are academics and 25 are technical and support staff. Other academic staff members were promoted to associate and full professors and a number of other promotions are in the pipeline.

Our University should be proud of its academic achievements and the rector should be congratulated for carrying out such a difficult exercise swiftly and efficiently. We augur that those staff members who are still waiting for their deserved promotion will benefit very soon. The delay is has been blamed on the excessive time taken by foreign assessors.

In these cases, should not one take into consideration local professors' assessments, especially when these are positive?

The rector said he is the first to admit that much still needs to be done at the University to strengthen it in view of present and future challenges. However, one has to appreciate that much has been done with the resources in hand.

One could also add that the rector cannot be expected to do things single-handed. He needs all the essential physical resources and especially the human resources.

Therefore it is heartening to see all the staff - academic, technical and administrative - working together as a team, jointly with the 10,000 undergraduate students, the 1,500 graduate students, as well as the 700 international students from some 80 different countries.

This is what ensures a bright future for our University. Heartfelt congratulations are due to all the new graduates on the successful conclusion of their studies; by making their time in this institution of learning a fruitful and rewarding experience they should also serve as role models for students still attending the University, as well as new entrants.

In their turn, they too will contribute to the our country's continuing development in due course.