It was 'full house' in the lecture hall on campus for the recent presentation of dissertations by graduates of the University's Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy.  The 200-strong crowd included students and guests from all areas of Business and Industry. Introducing the symposium, Professor Briguglio, who chaired the meeting, said that the seven dissertations presented that evening were a very small sample of the 200 or so submitted for examination in June 2002.

In his welcome address, the Dean of the Faculty, Professor Darmanin stressed the importance of giving exposure to the research work done by the students of the Faculty.  Many of the dissertations undertaken each year, can help to strengthen the links between Business, Industry and the University, said Professor Darmanin.

The National Industrial Policy, published very recently, addresses and identifies actions needed to improve links among the major stakeholders in the countryís economy, said the Hon. Josef Bonnici, Minister for Economic Affairs, guest of honour at the Symposium. Symposia such as this one, organised by the University, can certainly help on various levels, the Minister said.  The closing address was given by the Rector, Professor Roger Ellul-Micallef.

For discussion at the Symposium, seven dissertations were chosen from over 200 presented.  The students are graduates from different courses and are now working in the economy: the Central Bank; PricewaterhouseCoopers; foreign owned industries; real estate and other areas.  The dissertations were chosen for the quality of the work and also for the diversity of the subject matter.  The Business Promotion Act was discussed by Victoria Azzopardi while André Vella talked about the work of the Business Incubator and the financial aspects of innovation.  Nadia Farrugia's research has provided Malta for the first time with an Index of Competitiveness which resulted in some surprising and encouraging results.  Lately, more and more real estate agents are looking to the Internet to widen their public access and Janine Darmanin examined this use of the Internet as a Marketing Communications tool in this sector.  Tax Compliance was the subject of Marisa Xuereb's Master's dissertation in which she discusses a strategic approach with special reference to the Tax Compliance Unit in Malta.  Lastly, Yvonne Popp, presented the findings of her M.B.A. dissertation which looks at the Influences of Cultural Diversity on Corporate Philosophy and Corporate Culture.

Communications Office - 05.03.03
 
 

Members of the audience attending the Symposium
 
 

Victoria Azzopardi; the Hon. J. Bonnici; Prof. L. Briguglio; Prof. D. Darmanin; André Vella; Nadia Farrugia.
 

l to r: Yvonne Popp, Prof. L. Briguglio, Prof. R. Ellul-Micallef, Prof. D. Darmanin, Marisa Xuereb