Thursday, May 15, 2008, 00:00, by Ernest Cachia
The Faculty of ICT: an innovator and integrator
In the first part of this article I had the pleasure of outlining the role of the Faculty of ICT as an educator and an incubator. In
this second part I would like to expand on its role as innovator and integrator - two very important aspects of any university
faculty in today's modern and ever-changing technology-driven society.
Innovator: The Faculty of ICT (FICT) considers research to be one of its main responsibilities. We strongly believe that
research and innovation are indivisible, and that any university worthy of that name cannot neglect this aspect of academic
endeavour.
We strongly believe that for the sake of maintaining relevance and quality in what we produce, there must be a strong
element of research behind the scenes. Research, for technology-oriented organisations such as our faculty, can be very
much like the internal elementary reactions in a sun; had these non-visible reactions to stop, that sun's outer visible light
would eventually dim or die out.
Research should lead to innovation which in turn can shape or change mainstream technology. We also believe that the
desire to understand and improve is something that contributes to the overall quality of service that our academic staff offers
in terms of education.
Integrator: Due to the originating background of the FICT, we are ideally posed to be an example of how added value can be
gained through the collaborative effort of various faculties in both the areas of teaching and research.
The traditional "mould" of faculties with closely guarded and highly territorial remits is something that we feel might be
inconsistent with today's fast-changing technological world.
The faculty maintains friendly ties with all other university faculties, and particularly with the faculties of Engineering and
Science, from which all the departments currently in FICT originated.
The faculty also participates in a number of joint degree programmes with other faculties and institutes (apart from the
faculties of Engineering and that of Science), namely the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy (FEMA), the
Faculty of Education, and the Institute of Linguistics, to name a few.
The faculty clearly feels that study programmes which span faculties can be of great relevance and benefit in catering for the
ever-changing professional profile of Maltese graduates.
From a physical point of view, at the moment the operations and offices of the faculty are spread over three buildings on
campus.
However, we are extremely pleased to note the importance the Maltese government and the EU are placing on the growth of
ICT in Malta, evident through, among other things, the funding of a new state-of-the-art FICT building on university
campus. It is planned that work on this new building will commence next month.
I would like to emphasise the fact that no amount of management from my part can ever achieve what can be achieved by
the sheer dedication and quality of staff members, both academic and administrative, currently within the Faculty of ICT.
From my part, there is a deep appreciation of this.
Dr Cachia is the Dean of the Faculty of ICT at the University of Malta