‘University is about more than just jobs’

Meeting the country’s human resource needs is important but this should not overshadow other university education goals, according to the head of the Nursing Department.

“Very often, it seems that the sole outcome of university programmes which attracts attention is the number of graduates joining different professions.

“The focus seems to be on quantity and on meeting the immediate needs of the health service without sufficient appreciation of the broader benefits of a university education,” Roberta Sammut said at the ninth graduation ceremony for this year yesterday.

Dr Sammut said it was the ability to discover new ideas and apply new knowledge in practice that would make a change to their profession and society.

Cognitive and intellectual abilities were, however, not the sole goal of student education.

Education did not provide people with professional skills only but gave them a wide range of everyday life skills, including the ability to express ideas and listen to others with tolerance to diversity, to work effectively with others, appreciate emotions and understand what it is to be a person of integrity.

“It is these abilities which shape the kind of professional you are, which differentiates the excellent from the mediocre and which will mean so much to those who receive a service from you and to our society at large.”

Everyday life skills differentiate the excellent from the mediocre

Still, the university’s goals had changed over time in response to changing societal needs and contexts.

“The transition to a third generation university is viewed as being essential in promoting economic growth within European countries and, at this point, it is projected as being both inevitable and desirable as, in many ways, it addresses the current challenges to universities, particularly the exponential growth in student numbers and the concomitant difficulties of national governments to adequately fund universities.”

The model of a third generation university includes student education with a focus on cultural diversity.

It had a cosmopolitan outlook, seeking to attract international students to its courses.

Although across the University of Malta the number of non-Maltese students has increased, most of the faculties still had a restricted catchment, attracting mainly local students, Dr Sammut said.

The Faculty of Medicine and Surgery set the pace with the recruitment of students from Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia, and other faculties could learn from this.

“Diversity within the student population is desirable in view of the richness it brings to the learning experience.

“There is here much scope for development, particularly through the utilisation of online learning,” she said, adding that the Nursing Department had tapped into online learning for years.

Faculty of Dental Surgery

Bachelor of Dental Surgery

Sponsor: Professor

Nikolai Attard

Josef Awad, Randolph Silvester Busuttil, Sarah Ghio and Thomas Pace Moore.

Master of Science

Sponsor: Professor Nikolai Attard

William Borg, Cher Farrugia and Maria Xuereb.

Faculty of Health Sciences

Master of Science

Sponsor: Professor Angela Xuereb

Marcia Gafa and Christine Tabone.

Master of Science in Medical Physics

Sponsor: Professor Angela Xuereb

Jean Mikhail Bickle, Maria Busuttil, Christopher Cassar, Arielle Mamo, Nadine Napoli, Eric Pace* and Dwayne Vella.

Master of Science in Radiography

Sponsor: Professor Angela Xuereb

Francesca Marie Bezzina, Eliza Gera, Anthony John Hewitt, Janica Mercieca, Miguel Pace and Leonie Lauren Pace Vincenti.

Master of Science In Health Services Management

Sponsor: Professor Angela Xuereb

Jean Paul Bajada, Anna Cassar, Stephen Demicoli*, Ulrike Drago Lau and Ruth Vassallo.

Faculty of Medicine and Surgery

Master of Pharmacy