THE
LUMINARY
UNIVERSIT Y OF MALTA ALUMNI NEWSLET TER
www.um.edu.mt/alumni
DECEMBER 2014
Exceptional Entrepreneurs
EY and University of
Malta sign Collaborative
Agreement
EY and University of Malta’s TAKEOFF Business
Incubator officially launched a series of events
aimed at providing insights and guidance to budding
entrepreneurs seeking to embark on innovative
projects or who wish to take their business to the next
level. Entitled ‘Exceptional Entrepreneurs’, the series
will be addressed by alumni of EY Global’s Entrepreneur
of The Year™ (EOY) programme.
As the title suggests the aim of the series is to bring
up and coming entrepreneurs face to face with, literally,
Exceptional Entrepreneurs - men and women who rose
to the top of their game by being the most creative,
innovative and insightful. They will be sharing their
knowledge about building successful international
ventures from the ground up.
The EY EOY programme is considered to be the
world’s most prestigious business award.
Launched in 1986 in the United States, it is held in
more than 145 cities and in more than 60 countries
worldwide. A ‘who’s who’ of both developed and
emerging markets, these alumni include many
household names. LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and Jeff
Weiner, and Rovio founder Mikael Hed are recent EoY
National Award winners, whilst Guy Laliberté, Founder
and CEO of Cirque du Soleil, and Michael Spencer of
ICAP plc are recent Global winners. Over half of today’s
top 100 NASDAQ companies have won the EOY Award.
Ronald Attard, EY Malta’s Country Managing Partner
said: ‘Seeking advice through the right channels is key.
In a globalised world in which we are bombarded with
information, we need to make our ideas stand out, be
recognised and, more importantly, succeed. Through
this partnership we aim to provide a valuable platform
with exceptional entrepreneurs who will not only
share their success stories, but also answer questions
and discuss pathways and strategies.’
The Rector, Professor Juanito Camilleri, said,
‘The University is pleased to continue expanding
its extensive collaboration with the business sector
through this agreement with EY. This initiative will
support ongoing efforts at the University to encourage
the entrepreneurial spirit among students, and provide
entrepreneurs at TAKEOFF and individuals involved
in the broader local start-up community, with the
opportunity to learn firsthand from some of the
world’s most influential and innovative high-growth
entrepreneurs.’
The Hon. Evarist Bartolo, Minister for Education
and Employment thanked both EY and the University
of Malta for their commitment and for offering this
mentoring opportunity to entrepreneurs. ‘Sharing
your ideas with the people who have been successful in
their business path will not only give the right insight,
but will surely empower the audience to keep working
at converting their ideas into working ventures.’
The Exceptional Entrepreneurs series will cover a
number of topics with experts from different economic
and financial spheres.
THE
LUMINARY
2
DECEMBER 2014
PLAS Applications Launched —
Study at your own pace
Following the initial success of its
new Programme in the Liberal Arts
and Sciences (PLAS), the University
of Malta is now receiving applications for Units on offer during the
second semester (starting in February 2015). PLAS is a cross-disciplinary
programme which enables students
of all ages to study at their own pace
by applying for any and as many
Units as they wish.
Twenty PLAS Units will be offered
between February and May 2015,
covering a variety of fields including
astronomy, economics, marketing,
philosophy, criminology, psychology of adjustment and couple relationships, the Maltese Constitution,
business venturing, decorative arts
in Malta, Mediterranean food culture, medicine and the arts, Spanish
and Latin American culture, and the
science of plants and plant pests.
Each unit is accredited individually and the Programme’s flexibility
allows participants to use accumulated ECTS credits to achieve a Certificate, a Diploma, a Higher Diploma
and a Bachelor’s degree, without
any limits of time. Lectures are held
between 1800hrs and 2000hrs at the
Main Campus (Msida) or the Valletta Campus. Some units will also be
available through videoconferencing at the University’s Gozo Campus.
PLAS offers an excellent opportunity for personal growth and professional development: to broaden
one’s knowledge for its own sake,
to improve one’s qualifications, to
enhance one’s flexibility in the job
market, and to start or continue
studying at university.
The Centre for the Liberal Arts
and Sciences is now also offering a
voucher option which can be used by
relatives, friends or colleagues when
applying for PLAS Units. The deadline for online applications is Friday
16 January 2015. More information is
available on www.um.edu.mt/clas.
Supporting upcoming Educators to develop
more Technology-Based Learning Resources
The Department of Arts & Languages, Faculty of
Education, is currently engaged in a project together with
MITA (Malta Information Technology Agency) aimed at
facilitating interactions between local educators and
foreign experts to create learning materials where
technology is used as a teaching and learning medium.
The project will support peer-to-peer learning and
networking where pedagogical knowledge is shared
by a community of upcoming and incumbent education
professionals. This informal, face-to-face network is
intended to develop into a local community of practice
for educators who learn from each other in relation
to their practice. The intention is to motivate more
educators to create technology-rich materials, upload
them online and refer to a virtual community as part of
their professional development.
The first activity of this project was held on Friday
28 and Saturday 29 November 2014 where Education
Officers, teachers and student-teachers, all involved
in language learning, teamed up with university
lecturers from the Faculty of Education to participate
in a hands-on workshop led by Mr Peter Ford from
NoTosh (www.notosh.com), a company specialised
in learning digital design thinking. The workshop
was very well attended with approximately 50
participants.
THE
LUMINARY
3
DECEMBER 2014
Valmontone Conference on Mattia Preti
A scholarly conference focusing on
the Cavaliere Calabrese, the artist
Mattia Preti, was held in November
at Palazzo Pamphilj in Valmontone,
around 30 kilometres from Rome.
Participants examined the status
of research regarding this artist
following the celebrations of the
400th centenary of his birth (16132013). The event was titled Sotto
la volta dell’aria. Mattia Preti:
Approfondimenti e ricerche.
This conference was organised by
the International Institute for Baroque
Studies at the University of Malta in
association with the Soprintendenza
PSAE del Lazio and the Comune di
Valmontone. For this purpose an onsite scientific committee composed
of Sante Guido, Dora Catalano of
the Superintendence of the region,
Monica Di Gregorio, director of the
museum of Palazzo Doria Pamphilj
and Giuseppe Mantella, a leading
restorer of Mattia’s Preti’s works,
was set up.
The Volta dell’aria indicated in the
title of the conference refers to a
fresco on the ceiling of the grand
hall of the palace where the event
took place, and which was painted in
the spring of 1661 for Prince Camillo
Pamphilj in the piano nobile of his
palace. This fresco forms part of a
cycle dedicated to the four elements
and the four continents, executed by
Mattia Preti together with some of
his most accomplished collaborators
active in Rome. It is important to
note that it was during his stay at
Valmontone, that Preti planned his
entire project for the decoration of
the Co-Cathedral in Valletta. When he
arrived in Malta in the summer of 1661
and proposed to paint the story of St
John the Baptist, his designs were
ready to be shown to Grand Master
Cotoner and obtain his approval.
A number of academics and restoration experts spoke about various historical, artistic and technical aspects
of Preti’s work. Professor Denis De
Lucca, Director of the International
Institute of Baroque Studies at the
University of Malta, explored aspects
of Mattia Preti’s knowledge and practice of architecture during his sojourn
in Malta.
For this special occasion, from 3 to
30 November Preti’s Stendardo di San
Martino was exhibited in the Palazzo
Pamphilj - a work on canvas with
two scenes depicting St Martin on
horseback on one side and the Ecce
homo on the back. This was painted
by Mattia Preti for the jubilee of 1650
for the Pamphilj princes, and is now
held by the Benedictine abbey of St
Martin at Cimino near Viterbo.
Season’s Greetings!
This newsletter is published by the Communications and Alumni
Relations Office within the University of Malta.
All Rights Reserved 2014