Who needs science? Everyone

A good science education is important for every student, not only for those who need it to further their studies, job prospects and careers. Science is everywhere, and understanding how it’s a part of our daily lives can give students a great foundation for success in life. A large part of the public may not realise the significant role that science plays in our everyday lives. But science is truly for everyone, regardless of gender, race, or level of ability.

The importance of science in today’s world cannot be stressed strongly enough. Malta features low in science graduates among the EU countries. We need to strengthen our intake and one of the best ways to provide inspiration for young students is through young Faculty of Science university students.

We have to start at an early age. As students get to the age of choosing possible career paths, we must instill the notion that science is not only for scientists and engineers. We live in a high technology world and a solid science education is essential for students of all backgrounds, talents, interests, and abilities. Malta should explore all opportunities which could lead to science popularisation.

With a degree in science, students become very versatile and their training teaches them important transferable skills, such as problem solving, numeracy and an ability to make observations and deduce logical conclusions based on facts.

It is becoming increasingly important to address interdisciplinary areas of science. Development in areas such as nanoscience, biophysics and bioinformatics is moving at a fast pace and it needs to be encouraged. The Faculty of Science, which is approaching its first centenary, is taking steps in these directions, primarily through its research programmes and lately also in terms of undergraduate teaching programmes. 

Students are now realising the importance of research. It is the students themselves who are now calling for more research to be incorporated in undergraduate programmes. The Faculty of Science is research active, and thanks to the efforts of some of the academic staff, both in writing proposals as well as managing the projects, the faculty has also acquired world class experimental facilities with the help of ERDF funds.

Now we are pleased to be better placed to provide available scholarship opportunities as well as postdoctoral grants.

Benefits of learning a foreign language

Foreign language instruction and teaching programmes are often judged on their long term effect and usage on our children. But learning a foreign language has many benefits not only on students’ linguistic abilities but on their cognitive and creative abilities as well. Recently the Ministry for Education signed a partnership agreement with the Goethe Institute V. on the enhancement of education in German as a foreign language.

This agreement provides for cooperation between the Maltese government and the German Cultural Institute and will build on the existing measures and instruments already being implemented with St Margaret College of Malta. Thanks to this arrangement, we will be strengthening German language departments within state schools and colleges in Malta and promote and extend German language teaching.

PASCH, which stands for Schools: Partners for the Future, is an initiative of the German Foreign Office in cooperation with a number of agencies for student services in Germany. St. Margaret College of Verdala was chosen as the PASCH school for Malta and it serves as a coordinator and multiplier for all PASCH-related activities in Malta to make the benefits of the PASCH-network accessible to all German language students in state as well as church schools here in Malta.

This initiative will provide administrative assistance for pedagogical offers such as cultural events or exchange programmes which will be offered by the Goethe Institute to students. The German institute shall be providing training courses, both in Germany and Malta for teaching staff and will also be offering scholarships for youth courses in Germany for selected students. Furthermore through this PASCH membership, Maltese students would benefit through teaching material for modern foreign language education. A number of cultural events for students in Malta will also be organised.

Learning a foreign language helps our students become more open minded. Children who grow up learning to speak more than one language are better at multi-tasking. Beginning foreign language instruction early sets the stage for students to develop advanced levels of proficiencies in one or more languages. A multi-lingual ability is essential for a multi-cultural society.