University: Cocktails, condoms and a world-renowned scientist

There's only one place where you can expect to find priests handing out cocktails, telephony companies handing out free condoms and world-renowned scientists taking part in a debate, all at the same time.

The University opened its gates to another Freshers' Week yesterday and hundreds of students buzzed around, catching up with old friends, joining organisations and seeing all the university has to offer.

The Quadrangle, as the main square is called, was filled with various companies all trying their best to stand out and handing out free merchandise ranging from pens to razors.

Vodafone stood out by handing out free condoms with their new student package - a dig at the age-old university debate about whether a condom machine should be installed or not.

Meanwhile, stands manned by student organisations were tightly placed around the perimeter of the Quadrangle, trying their best to attract recruits. Some complained they were "cooped up like chickens" while companies had been given priority.

But they added that the University Students' Council (KSU), which organises the annual activity, will soon be dedicating a whole week solely to organisations.

Some new organisations were more proactive than others. The newly formed "progressive" organisation, Move, went around asking students to fill up their survey, challenging them to give their views on all the hot issues: gay rights, divorce, abortion and the morning-after pill.

The Chaplaincy tried a different approach and just attracted students by handing out non-alcoholic cocktails they prepared on the spot.

The day kicked off with a speech by the Rector Juanito Camilleri, who started by asking students not to confuse him with former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

The joke was a reference to a survey carried out by the University newspaper The Insiter earlier this year which found the majority of students could not recognise several key people at University. When shown a picture of Prof. Camilleri, one student had identified him as Mr Prodi.

"Remember who I am," Prof. Camilleri joked, adding that Mr Prodi was much older than him.

During the opening ceremony, the rector also announced that the new library façade was almost complete and construction would soon begin on the new ICT faculty and Computer Services Centre.

He said there was a growing demand for postgraduate courses and joint-degree programmes.

In fact, two new Masters programmes would soon be launched in collaboration with American universities.

The Rector added that in the past year the University had made significant steps forward to strengthen its research infrastructure.

He reminded everyone that an agreement with academic staff had been finalised.

This encouraged individual research but also allowed for the creation of a corporate research programme, to respond to the needs of industry and the country at large, as well as to exploit opportunities for collaboration with European and global counterparts. KSU president Carl Grech urged students to consider the opportunities offered in the student exchange programmes like Erasmus but complained that while more and more students were opting to do so, funds were still very limited.

"This means many students who want to go find the door closed because of bureaucracy or lack of funding," he said.

He also announced that KSU was setting up a Debating Society as part of the Degreeplus scheme and the first debate would be held on Monday in the Quadrangle.

"University is not just lectures. It gives you the chance to participate in any area you like," he said, urging students to be proactive.

During the homily, University chaplain Michael Bugeja spoke about the need to be aware of world hunger and recounted some experiences of students who spent the summer working voluntarily in Ethiopia.

In the afternoon a debate was chaired by renowned engineer Nicholas Sammut, who has worked on the largest and most expensive scientific experiment in history: the Large Hadron Collider conducted by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern).

The debate featured other experts in the fields of research and technology and delved into the various opportunities available to students as well as the problems that they are likely to encounter.