New tourism, travel, culture institute

The Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture, formerly the Department of Tourism Studies within the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy, was recently set up at the University of Malta.

It will offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses to enable students to assume positions within the tourism, travel and culture industries.

The new institute aims to support the local tourism industry, which is the cornerstone of the Maltese economy, through its teaching and research programmes; to support local cultural entities through such programmes; and to carry out and disseminate research for the local and international tourism, travel and culture sectors.

The institute seeks to establish professional guidelines and maintain the professional status of tourism, travel and culture industries and to attract funded research, thus establishing itself as a centre of excellence in tourism, travel and culture research in the Mediterranean.

The institute works closely with local tourism stakeholders such as hotels, restaurants, government entities and ministries, heritage agencies and craft organisations.

It participates in EU-funded projects such as the Euromed Heritage II programme, with two major projects on cultural heritage, namely Med Voices and Delta. It is also currently participating in a Leonardo pilot project - Vocmat.

Other programmes include the Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship programme and the Lifelong Learning programme.

The institute is also active in the Erasmus programme and has exchange agreements with universities in the UK, France, Finland and Germany.