Minister Evarist Bartolo presents Certificates to participants of Erasmus Socrates Student Exchange

The Minister of Education and National Culture, the Hon. Evarsist Bartolo, this morning presented Erasmus Certificates to 10 foreign students who had completed a three month Socrates Action 1 Programme at the Division of Radiography, University of Malta. Dr. Joseph Mifsud, Socrates Office Manager, University of Malta, Dr. Gauden Galea, Executive Director, Institute of Health Care and Mr. Paul Bezzina Co-ordinator, Division of Radiography Studies, also attended the presentation.

The Minister spoke of the need for more international and European collaboration and the importance of staff/student exchanges. He also underlined the usefulness for more Maltese students spending study and work experiences away from the Maltese shores.

Dr. Mifsud listed a number of current and future initiatives which his office has been working on. The introduction of the European Credit Transfer System, approved by the Senate of the University of Malta, can be considered a milestone in international student exchange. This will permit students from the University of Malta to transfer credits obtained abroad to their current courses at the University of Malta.

GENERAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION

For the past three years the Division of Radiography Studies has been participating within an Erasmus network.

Up to the present day, 9 Maltese students from the Division of Radiography Studies have participated in the Exchange Programme. Last year the University of Malta hosted 6 students from Finland and the Netherlands; this year 10 students from Finland, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland completed a course programme consisting of a theoretical and a clinical component. Clinical placements were held at St. Luke's Hospital and at private hospitals on the islands. Social and cultural activities wre organised for the students during their stay at the University.

SOCRATES action A1:

Students undertaking a programme of study at a partner university in the framework of an Institutional Contract under Socrates-Erasmus are regarded as "Erasmus" students -

• students are registered on a formal programme of study at a higher education level, leading to a degree;
• the departments involved have signed an agreement to send and receive a given number of students;
• the period of study involved is of around three months;
• the study period abroad forms an integral part of the programme of study at the home institution;
• full academic recognition is given for the study period abroad i.e. the home University is committed to ensuring that the period of study undertaken abroad (including examinations or other forms of assessment) is recognised as replacing a comparable period of study at the home university even though the content might differ.

SOCRATES OFFICE MALTA Activities for February 1997- March 1998

TEACHING STAFF MOBILITY (Erasmus-Higher Education)

1. Distance Education Network (Sheffield)
2. European Prison Education Network meeting (Budapest)
3. European Women Studies Research Meeting, London
4. European Early Literacy Coordination Meetings, UK
5. Tourism Studies Leonardo Meeting, Lisbon
6. European Conference in Educational Research, Frankfurt
7. European Language Association Meeting, Lille
8. European Network in Radiography, Ireland
9. Neuro-Science Network Meeting, France
10. Distance Education Network Meeting, Germany
11. Euro-Mediterranean Research Network, Cyprus
12. Leonardo Network Meeting on Vocational Training and Education, Rome
13. European Network Meeting on Children and Youth at Risk, Nottingham

Student Mobility

1. European Environmental Education Conference, 5 students, Germany
2. Euro-Mediterranean Research Network, Cyprus
3. European Collaborative Action Programme, 2 students, Northern Ireland
4. Student (one year placement), Socrates Technical Assistance Office
5. Student (one year placement), Concorde, Agency DGXXII
6. Socrates Placement, University of Karlsruhe
7. Socrates Placement, Bocconi University, Milan
8. Erasmus Student, University of Lille, France

MALTA

• EUROPEAN CREDIT TRANSFER SYSTEM (approved by the University of Malta, Senate, March 1998), permitting students to transfer credits in Europe to Malta and vice-versa).
• Quality in Education Project, Lorenzo Gafa' Secondary School and Mriehel Girls' Junior Lyceum (January, 1998)
• Launching of Comenius, Socrates School Education Project, all Primary Schools in Malta and Gozo, February 1998 (Transnational School partnerships/European Education Projects which focus on the cultural heritage, environmental issues, science and technology and other topics of mutual interest to pupils in different European countries).

FUTURE PROGRAMMES

• Socrates Network Meeting in Malta (April 1998) Success for All, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and the National Commission for Education, 11 European Experts to discuss Educational Priority Policies in European Countries);
• PROJECTS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WITH EU DG1B (Ministry of Education, NCIT and the University of Malta);
• University-Industry Links: Department of Metallurgy, University of Malta with German counterparts;
• Early Childhood Education Student Exchange, 10 students to Norway and Sweden MAY, 1998;
• Comenius Projects in Primary Education;
• Comenius Projects in Secondary and Post-Secondary Education;
• Euro-Mediterranean Networks in Linguistic Education.