Archaeology

The Archaeology undergraduate programme is intended to provide students with as broad a base for this discipline as possible. The programme consists of a number of compulsory study units, including an introductory unit and a series of other study units covering as much as possible of the chronological divisions of central and eastern Mediterranean archaeology. These are followed by other study units focussing on Maltese archaeology in the same periods. Other units are concerned with aspects closely related to Archaeology, such as principles of Conservation, Scientific Applications to Archaeology, and Environmental Archaeology. Students are also encouraged to take part in the Department's excavations.

The various study units are backed by the different specializations of the department’s  academic members as well as other specialists from other university departments and outside institutions. Foreign lecturers are regularly invited to complement the expertise available in Malta and to enhance the international currency of the course; the latter is further guaranteed by external examiners from foreign academic institutions. As a result, graduates are accepted for post-graduate courses abroad on a regular basis, the high-flyers even obtaining prestigious scholarships to follow such courses.

The practical side of the discipline is also catered for by means of field sessions that are organized in collaboration with competent state agencies, namely, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and Heritage Malta. G.I.S. and Photography courses  are  also provided  by  other  University programmes and  are  as  much  as possible  designed  to provide those skills relating to archaeology. The contents of these courses are not normally included in the final Synoptic examinations. No dissertation is offered in the undergraduate degree, as it is felt that all students reading Archaeology will need to follow as many study units provided in the programme as possible.

Classics

This Classics undergraduate programme is arranged so that the contents of Year One alternate with those of Year Two in such a way that the student reading B.A.(Hons) or B.A. learns Greek and Latin in two years.

During these two years, B.A.(Hons) students are given the opportunity to learn about the development of Greek and Latin Literature, Greek and Roman Civilization, as well as Classical Rhetoric and Prosody; furthermore, they will be able to consolidate their knowledge of the other language in Year Two and, later, in Year Three.

Year Three students will cover study-units, primarily based on original sources, in literature, philosophy, history, archaeology, art, and mythology. Of these study-units, four synoptic units are offered to B.A.(Hons) students, two to B.A., in the second semester, for which students have to sit for examination papers. These synoptic units represent a variety of Greek and Latin authors writing in different genres: epic, narrative, elegy and lyric, oratory, satire, philosophy, historiography or drama.

Other units include general surveys in various subject matters, such as Women in the Classical World, Philosophy, History of Literature, Civilization, Art and Archaeology, Mythology, Epic and Literary Criticism. No dissertation is offered in the undergraduate degree, as it is felt that since students reading Classics start Latin and Greek from the very beginning, it is better for them to attain a firm grasp of the two languages involved and familiarise themselves with their related literature, rather than embark on a dissertation at this level.

The B.A. course will be the same as the B.A.(Hons) Programme, except for the following: in Year Two, a student is required to pursue only all the basic language study-units, that is, Grammar, Syntax, Texts and Further Texts in the language offered that year (26 credits), whereas in Year Three any 28 credits from the Year Three programme can be obtained, which have to include two Synoptic units.