The 2018 Governing Board Meeting of the TÉTHYS Euro-Mediterranean Universities Network and Scientific Debate, which this year are being hosted by the University of Malta, are currently underway at the University of Malta Valletta Campus. The two events are being convened by Professor Godfrey Baldacchino, Pro-Rector for International Development and Quality Assurance, and Dr Norbert Bugeja, Senior Lecturer in Postcolonial Studies at the Mediterranean Institute.
The TÉTHYS Euro-Mediterranean Universities Network is a multi-lateral co-operation network encompassing more than eighty universities from twenty countries from across the Euro-Mediterranean area. Its objectives, which emerged from the Barcelona Conference, are those of fostering cultural and scientific exchange with a view to cultivating a stronger Euro-Mediterranean area of higher education, research and innovation, the strengthening of co-operation between Euro-Mediterranean countries through the sharing of knowledge, and building ‘win-win’ partnerships between the Northern, Southern and Eastern Mediterranean littorals.
The Governing Board Meeting, for which the University of Malta won the hosting bid, was opened by Professor Alfred Vella, Rector of the University of Malta, with further opening remarks from TÉTHYS President Professor Michel Autric and Professor Isabelle Renaudet, Scientific Director of the TÉTHYS Network.
The TÉTHYS Scientific Debate for 2018 is titled ‘Sustainable Development and its Impact on Mediterranean Societies’, and is being addressed by H.E. Madame Béatrice Le Fraper du Hellen, Ambassador of France to Malta, Plan Bleu President Mr. Thierry Lavoux, and features a line-up of international experts in the field of sustainability, including Professor Simone Borg and Professor Louis Cassar, from the Faculty of Laws and the Institute of Earth Systems of the University of Malta respectively.
As an active member university of TÉTHYS, the University of Malta is actively encouraging its faculties, departments and academic members of staff to think through and come forward with ideas for projects with a view to submitting applications for EU funding, with a focus on Erasmus+ (The EU Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport) through partnership and cooperation within TÉTHYS. For further information and details on the TÉTHYS Euro-Mediterranean Universities Network and its activities, contact Dr Norbert Bugeja by email.