The Confucius Institute at the University of Malta offers a variety of courses in Chinese language and culture tailored to the specific interests of the group or language levels.

After the first successful year, the 2-year part-time evening Diploma Course in Chinese will once again be on offer in October 2011. The course is designed for beginners in Chinese, with little or no relevant language experience. It not only trains students in Chinese speaking, reading, listening and writing, but also aims to help students achieve some basic knowledge of the Chinese culture. No academic background on China is required. People from all walks of life are eligible. This is a perfect course to start with if one is planning to familiarise oneself with the Chinese culture or intends to pursue further Chinese studies.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Malta is offering a range of introductory courses for the general public, at beginners level and higher. 'Chinese for Children' consists of 8 hours of teaching, while the following evening courses consist of 12 hours of teaching, spread over an 8-week period: Elementary Chinese Language Level 1, Elementary Chinese Language Level 2, Business Chinese Level 1, Chinese for Travellers, Chinese Culture, Chinese Arts and Crafts, Chinese Calligraphy. All these courses will be offered all year round, between 1800 hours and 1930 hours.

The Confucius Institute is also introducing the '5-Day Chinese Summer Camp' for children and teens aged between 5 and 15 years. These sessions are scheduled to start in July 2011. Parents are welcome to accompany their children and take part in the sessions.

For further information on any of the Chinese courses, kindly send an email or access the website of the Confucius Institute at the University of Malta.

SIMBIOTIC is an environmental restoration project aiming at enhancing the ecological connectivity of the SE Sicily-Gozo transboundary migratory route through ecological restoration, improved area management, integrated environmental planning and policy and enhanced local environmental consciousness. Restoration interventions will be designed based on an assessment of local plant, animal and habitat components, an analysis of landscape changes and the identification of priority connectivity areas. The SIMBIOTIC project will be jointly implemented by the Institute of Earth Systems of the University of Malta, the Ministry for Gozo, the Botany Department of the University of Catania and the Comune di Pachino.

The 2-day Kick-off Meeting (26-27 May 2011) is launching the project. The sessions which are scientific and management-based focus on the work-packages which make up the project. The Lead Partner delegates and project partners will trace together the project road-map for the next two years.

left to right: Dr Louis F. Cassar, Project Leader- Simbiotic, Director Institute of Earth Systems, University of Malta, Professor Richard Muscat, Pro-rector for Research and Innovation, University of Malta, and Prof. essa Anna Guglielmo, University of Catania

Prof. essa Anna Guglielmo from the University of Catania addressing the participants

The University of Malta’s Dean of Science Awards for excellence in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics started in 1995 and is now an established tradition. The awardees and their relatives were invited to the ceremony held on campus, which started with a welcome address by the Dean, Professor Charles V. Sammut. There was a short performance by the Mediterranean Institute Students Quartet, consisting of Andrew Borg (1st Violin), Edwina Cini (2nd Violin), Daniel Zammit (Viola) and Lindsey Mallia (Cello).

Professor Sammut congratulated the students nominated this year and others who had shown a marked improvement. He encouraged the students to have confidence in themselves and their capabilities.  He mentioned that University students should be thankful for having access to a first class tertiary education, made possible by outstanding academics, supported by administrative and technical staff. It is their duty, he said, to consider starting their careers as scientists by spending some time doing research.  The Faculty now has significantly improved its research capabilities but these can only be fully exploited if a sufficient number of students decide to take up the many research opportunities being made available.

The Dean concluded by thanking the administrative staff of the Faculty Office, especially Ms Claire Saliba and her co-workers, Ms Michelle Spiteri and Mr Justin P. Azzopardi, who were responsible for the organisation of the event. He also thanked Bank of Valletta who sponsored the BOV Prize for Science, awarded to the final year student who placed first overall at the last Degree Classification Board of the Faculty of Science. The other sponsors contributing to the ceremony were Technoline Ltd, the Malta Communications Authority, Methode Electronics Malta Ltd and Agenda Ltd.  

University of Malta Registrar, Ms Veronica Grech, presented the certificates and the prizes together with Professor Sammut to the following students:

Year I
Bajada Mark (Chemistry & Physics)
Gabarretta John (Chemistry with Materials)
Micallef Fabian (Mathematics & Physics)

Year II
Brincat Bernard (Computer Science & AI & Physics)
Cutajar Denis (Computer Science & AI & Physics)
Farrugia Christine (Mathematics & Physics)

Year III
Bartolo Francois (Informatics & Mathematics)
Galea Nadya (Mathematics & Statistics & Operations Research)    
Gauci Justine (Mathematics & Physics)

Year IV
Debono Mark (Mathematics & Statistics & Operations Research)
Mifsud Andrew (Mathematics & Physics)                    
Sciriha Marika (Mathematics & Statistics & Operations Research)

The BOV Prize for Science was awarded jointly to Mr Andrew Mifsud and Ms Marika Sciriha, who thanked the Faculty for a highly profitable experience during the four years of their B.Sc.(Hons) course. Mr Mifsud and Ms Sciriha praised the Faculty of Science academic and support staff for their excellent service, which many times went well beyond their call of duty.

left to right: Mr Andre Mifsud, Prof. C.V. Sammut (Dean of the Faculty of Science), Mr Charles Azzopardi (BOV), Ms Marika Sciriha

A group of 14 final year University of Malta students recently visited Berlin for the world’s biggest travel and tourism exhibition and to take part in the ITB Tourism Congress which is the largest of its kind. Spread over three days and 150 conference sessions that cover the main current and future issues in the travel and tourism arena, the ITB Tourism Congress gave the students the opportunity to listen to leading academics and practitioners from all over the world. This year, ITB attracted 11,163 exhibitors and 170,000 visitors. On their return from Berlin, the students were invited to the Embassy of Germany in Malta where they discussed their ITB experience with H.E. Ambassador Bernd Braun. The students were accompanied in Berlin and at the German Embassy by their final year lecturer Mr Alfred Quintano.
 

Betsson Malta Ltd has announced the second edition of its Gaming Award for University of Malta students, to recognise achievement in gaming research. It established the student award on an annual basis with a cash prize of €1500 for the best gaming related dissertation. The Betsson Malta Student Gaming Award for last year was won by Michele Sammut with the dissertation titled: 'The Prevalence of Gambling among University Students', Faculty of Education, B.Psy. (Hons) UoM 2010.

Betsson has a long history in the gaming industry and has been operating in Malta since 2006. Social responsibility is an important aspect of the company's day-to-day operations in relation to customers as well as employees. In fact Betsson won the Most Socially Responsible Operator of the year award 2009 in London, and has been shortlisted for this award three years running. In line with these values, the company is committed to support research in gambling and problem gambling.

Betsson is working in association with the University of Malta and has the support of the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA). The Malta University Student Council (KSU) is helping to raise awareness of the award amongst students.

The University of Malta invites other companies to participate in similar initiatives by supporting collaborative research. The University also welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with the LGA. The LGA acknowledges its commitment towards responsible gaming and gives utmost priority to the social perspective of gaming. It is dedicated to preventing gambling addiction and protecting vulnerable groups. The LGA also encourages research in relation to all fields of gaming, including but not limited to technical, mathematical, legal, business and social research, whilst it promotes the  implementation of effective programs for prevention and education.

To be eligible for the Betsson Award, the applicant must have submitted the dissertation as part of work towards a university degree at the University of Malta. Dissertations from all disciplines are welcome as long as the research relates in some way to gaming. (For the purpose of the award 'gaming' is defined according to the Malta Lotteries and Other Games Act, 2001, which implies that it relates to a game of chance and skill, that is 'a game for money and, or prizes with a monetary value, the results of which are not totally accidental but depend, to a certain extent on the skill of the participant'.)

For this issue of The Betsson Gaming Award: submissions of all relevant dissertations relating to gaming are welcome, irrespective of the year they were completed. All submissions must be sent in soft copy (in pdf format) by email, together with a single page document providing the participant’s contact details and explaining the contribution of the dissertation to the field of gaming.

Any dissertations previously submitted should not be re-submitted.

Deadline for submission for the 2011 award is 12 July.

The submissions will be assessed by an independent interdisciplinary panel of experts on the basis of their relevance and their applicability to the gaming industry. The panel will judge the overall quality of the dissertations with particular emphasis on the following points:

• New research
• Relevance
• Applicability to practice
• Applicability to theory
• Demonstration of knowledge
• Analytical ability
• Is the dissertation stimulating and challenging?

The Faculty of Arts Dean’s List Award Ceremony was held on Friday 6 May 2011. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. Dominic Fenech, presented the awards to the following students, in the presence of Prof. Juanito Camilleri, University Rector and representatives of the Bank of Valletta, sponsors of the award:

Ms Daniela Brockdorff, B.A.(Hons) English
Mr Carmel Cassar, B.A.(Hons) History of Art

Prof. Fenech warmly congratulated the two students and explained how the very stringent conditions of the Dean's List allowed only the very best to feature in it. In fact, only students who achieve A grades in at least 80 credits during the first two years of their course, without any fails or re-sits, can be included in the List.

The branch manager of Bank of Valletta on Campus, Mr Odilon Scerri, expressed his pride and satisfaction that his bank had been sponsoring the award for the past 15 years.

The Rector added his congratulations for the students’ outstanding performance, observing that students with such level of achievement were the pride of the University.  He assured the students of his full personal support if they wished to further their academic pursuits.

The Faculty of Arts would like to publicly thank the Bank of Valletta for sponsoring the award.

Malta Commonwealth Third Country Training Programme
Competitiveness Strategies for Small States
Cavalieri Hotel, St Julians
23-31 May 2011

The Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malta will be organising a training workshop on Competitiveness Strategies for Small States as part of the Malta-Commonwealth Third Country Training Programme. The Commonwealth countries participating will include Botswana, Gambia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Montserrat, Samoa, and Seychelles.

The course will take place between 23 and 31 May 2011 at the Cavalieri Hotel, St Julians. The aim of the course is to disseminate knowledge and provide training on competitiveness strategies, covering a variety of themes with a focus on small states. Another objective of the workshop is to enable the participants benefit from the sharing of ideas and experiences during discussions.

The course is primarily intended for officials, at senior and middle management levels, operating in their private sector and public sector institutions. Participants should normally be nominated by the national governments of small states members of the Commonwealth, and sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation.

Should you wish to obtain more information, kindly contact the Ms Maryrose Vella, Islands and Small States Institute, Tel/Fax: +356 21344879