Creativity Economy takes over from Knowledge Economy

EMA-PS (Master in the Science of Performative Creativity), the first Joint European Masters Programme which the European Union approved for University of Malta, will start this October. The EU gave EMA-PS the third largest of the 50 grants it awarded for Higher Education Curriculum Development, in 2002. The four partner universities are the University of Malta, the originating and coordinating institution, the University of Roma “La Sapienza”, the University of Paris 13 and the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan, Poland.

The two-year, full time course bridges the Sciences and the Arts. Its extraordinary interdisciplinarity brings together Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Philosophy, Performer Studies and Sport Sciences. In response to the Creativity Economy, which is being heralded as the new economic paradigm taking over from the Knowledge Economy, EMA-PS’s academic team added a new dimension to the programme, including an important input of Business Management and Marketing.

The tuition programme will investigate the surprising, enriching changes that occur in persons who undertake certain sophisticated and highly demanding training regimens. Science is now showing that the brain’s motor programme is at the foundation of many of man’s achievements. Recent research has proved that such training – be it for sport, music, dance or theatre – empowers human Memory Systems and Learning Processes. Studying this phenomenon will put the focus on the genesis of Creativity and on contexts which encourage it and others which inhibit it.

The programme is bound to open an impressively wide range of work opportunities. In a Creativity Economy, graduates will become agents of change, working in contexts that seek creativity – the economy, science, culture, business, the environment, education – as well as in social contexts where creativity is inhibited or even stunted: discrimination, marginalisation, deprivation. EMA-PS aims to generate synergy between several fields of play – industry, research bodies, NGOs, educational structures, social and cultural milieus. Its first graduates will obtain their degree in 2009, with a prestigious European certificate bridging five disciplines and signed jointly by the rectors of four universities – a truly remarkable factor that will open many doors

In a world that is on the move, EMA-PS students will strengthen their sense of the international. For the first two-year cycle, for example, all students and academics will be in Malta from December 2007 to June 2008 for the first part of the tuition process. They will then move to Poznan, Poland, for the months of October, November and December 2008, for the concluding part of the lecturing process. After that each student will move to her or his chosen host university to write up the dissertation.

As from now up to 4 July 2007, prospective candidates can apply to join the first cohort of students. All information can be found on line in the EMA-PS website, www.EMA-PS.com.

from l to r: Dr John Schranz, Rector Prof. Juanito Camilleri and Prof. Richard Muscat.

Jazz Musicians enticing students to the EMA-PS launch