Preparatory work to create a diving medicine institution in Malta began today, as the Institute of Tourism Studies and Divers Alert Network Europe signed a memorandum of understanding.
The MOU will see the two organisations as well as Tourism and Gozo ministries collaborate towards the creation of International Institute of Diving Medicine and Safety.
It was signed this afternoon during an event at the ITS campus in Qala, Gozo.
ITS and Dan Europe will be starting a national and international academic education program with levels ranging from basic to advanced.
Specific course curricula aimed at diving safety, medicine and research will be offered. The programme of studies will cover areas such as diving-related first aid; diving medicine for divers; diving safety officer courses; diving-specific hazard identification, risk assessment and prevention; as well as post-graduate courses in diving and hyperbaric medicine (with European Accreditation) and eventually an academic Masters in Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine.
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said that the collaboration would help attract divers seeking "the best training location for the safe and effective implementation of diving activities for recreation and tourism, science, technology and industrial scopes."
The collaboration would also include an element of data gathering, with diver-exposure data being collected during dives and feeding into DAN's International Recreational Diving database.
Gozo Minister Anton Refalo noted that in 2014, 18 per cent of diving tourists spent their time solely in Gozo.
ITS executive director Pierre Fenech said the collaboration was another step in the Institute's "process of consolidating itself as the leading tourism educational and vocational institution."
DAN Europe founder and president Alessandor Marroni said that creating the institute was "challenging but entirely feasible." The institute would "help further in making Malta an excellence hub for recreational, professional and scientific diving and a prime destination for those who look the best diving management, safety, diving medicine, and research,” he added.