University students were this morning urged to not solely immerse themselves in their studies, but also to involve themselves in national and global issues and refrain from seeking only individualistic gains.
The appeals were made at the opening of the academic year.
Addresses were delivered by Rector Juanito Camilleri and KSU president Stefan Balzan and the new students also attended Mass celebrated by the University chaplain Fr Michael Bugeja.
A total of 3,561 new students formally started their University course today. The university is offering 697 courses, an increase of 25 over last year. Of the new students, 2,839 are under-graduates. There are 405 international students from 70 countries. The total number of students for this academic year is 11,341 of whom 4,825 are male and 6,516 female.
The Admissions Office is still processing applications from candidates who set for Matsec resits and whose results have just been published. The University said these applicants have been advised that in case of positive results which qualify the applicants for their courses, they can attend lectures even before they receive their official letter of acceptance.
The theme for the opening of the new year, and the Freshers' Week which accompanies it, is 'Seek your your true self here...that which hitherto you have never recognised.'
Prof Camilleri said these could e the students' best years in life and he urged them to take full advantage of the university experience, including identifying and developing their talents.
While encouraging the students to take an interest in developments around them, he said students should not fall prey to a state of dependence.
Prof Camilleri underlined the need for continued investment in the University and said it was the University's responsibility to ensure that every euro was well spent and translated into better quality of life for the Maltese and a healthier economy.
The Rector underlined the investment being made by the University, including state of the art facilities at the ICT Services Centre which students can now start to use. He said that work in proceeding on an extension of the building housing the Faculity of Economics, Management and Accountancy, the Faculity of Laws and the Faculty of Theology.
The building of the new ICT Faculty is picking up pace and work has started two new floors for the biomedical building, to consolidate and expand laboratory facilities and create environment to enhance research programme in genetics, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sciences .
The University is this year also launching the fourth international masters programme being held at the Valletta campus , with an MA in trans-cultural in collaboration with the University of Maryland.
The KSU president in his address welcomed the growth in the University but stressed that it was important that prospective students did not have to wait until the last minute to learn whether or not they would be accepted in the courses they had applied for.
He added that the infrastructure of the university needed to continue being expanded to cater for the growing student population.