Efforts are being made to divert funds for research and development to the University, according to Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

The University was labelled as being “weak” in research and knowledge transfer in an EU-financed study ranking 850 universities worldwide on their performance in a number of areas. It scored good B grades in teaching and learning.

“All the resources we have must be managed really well so that, at least, what we have goes to help the University face this challenge,” he said.

It was important that the University was both a teaching and research institution. That was in the interest of the University, academia and the development of our country, Mr Bartolo said.

He said research and development was a necessity if the country were to move to its next economic stage. “It is essential that all the resources we have are concentrated so they can be utilised at the University”.

The EU study shows that citation from research carried out at the University is very low and income from private sources for knowledge transfer, including the funding for such research, very weak.