Programme
Arrival of Honorary Graduands at the University of Malta Valletta Campus,
St Paul Street, Valletta
The Academic Body, including the Honorary Graduands, proceed in procession from
the Valletta Campus to the Church of the University, Merchants Street, Valletta
Dance of the Blessed Spirits - C.W. Gluck
Concerto No. 10 in D Major op.3 M.C. Festing (edited by Frà Richard Divall)
Oration by Dr Ing. John Betts - Dean, Faculty of Engineering
Polonaise, Badiniere - Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major - J.S. Bach
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) on
Dr Albert Ganado
The Registrar proclaims the resolution of the Senate and Council of the University.
The Sponsor, Professor Dominic Fenech, presents the graduand to the Rector.
Conferment of the degree by the Rector.
The Chancellor presents the degree scroll.
The Honorary Graduate signs the Liber Aureus.
Address by the Honorary Graduate
Tema and Variation I - Folk Song Variations - J. Galea
Conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa) on
Mr John Alfred Myers
The Registrar proclaims the resolution of the Senate and Council of the University.
The Sponsor, Dr Ing. John Betts, presents the graduand to the Rector.
Conferment of the degree by the Rector.
The Chancellor presents the degree scroll.
The Honorary Graduate signs the Liber Aureus.
Address by the Honorary Graduate
Presto - Divertimento in F Major No. 3 - W.A. Mozart
National Anthem
Camerata Galatea (University Chamber Ensemble)
Musical Director: Mro John Galea
The Honorary Graduates leave in procession with the Chancellor, the Rector and
the Academic Body to the University of Malta Valletta Campus.
Vin d’Honneur at the University of Malta Valletta Campus, St Paul Street, Valletta
ORATION
by Dr Ing. John Charles Betts
B.Mech.Eng.(Hons),M.Sc.(Astronomy)(SwinburneUT),Ph.D.
TWO CULTURES, TWO GENTLEMEN
We are gathered here today to witness the irregular relationship - tepid, turbulent,
irreverent, calm, intimate, passionate and inconsistent - between the arts and science,
the latter present as its most pragmatic avatar, engineering.
In 1959 Charles Percy Snow – by training a scientist, by vocation a writer - was invited
to deliver the Rede lecture, a public, annual appointment at Cambridge University. Our
two candidates for honour by the University were in 1959 already about their business:
Mr John Alfred Myers was a lecturer at Burrow in Furness Technical College, soon to
depart for a post in Ghana; Dr Ganado was a lawyer in Malta. C.P. Snow’s influential
Rede lecture that year was the memorable ‘The Two Cultures’, in which he lamented the
divide between the arts and science, the lack of an equal preparation of British pupils in
science as in arts, and the lack of a common culture. Much has been written about the
lecture (by Snow himself, amongst others). It has been suggested, possibly with some
justification, that ‘Two Cultures’ itself fertilised the periodic sprouting of miserable
barricades between the protagonists; this point of view ignores many facets of ‘The
Two Cultures’, some of which are relevant to Malta today. It has also been argued that
the passage of time has blunted the sharp cutting edges of this dichotomy; not, however,
entirely.
A clearer and more certain reality is that both cultures share a common thread which is a
culture in itself: the culture of hard work. Our presence here, on the Foundation Day of
the University of Malta, celebrates the efforts of two gentlemen from the two cultures,
one from each, both skilled tailors fashioning their disciplines with this strongest of
threads. They have made their respective sciences an art, and their history is forged
around the heritage they have given us.
2
Without Mr John Alfred Myers’ contribution to the University of Malta there might
not have been a Dean of Engineering here today to deliver this oration. John Myers’
very first employment was as a post office technical officer. The job required him
to climb up telephone poles, the first part of the way up by ladder, then by rungs all
the way up; little did he know then how far he still had to climb in the course of his
career. John Myers became a lecturer at Walker Mining and Technical College, then
at Barrow in Furness Technical College, and subsequently – his first move abroad – at
Kumasi University, in Ghana, where he developed a Higher National Diploma course.
In 1964 he came, with his family, to Malta, where he gave his valid contribution to the
creation of the engineering degree awarded by the Royal University of Malta. He was
a lecturer to the first of our fifty years of cohorts, and was instrumental in setting up the
initial infrastructure for undergraduate education in engineering in Malta. He himself
attained his Master of Science degree here in Malta in 1967. In the following year
he was instrumental in the recognition of the engineering degree by the Institution of
Electrical Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Civil
Engineers of the United Kingdom, which reported favourably on the very high level
found. This allowed graduates from the Royal University of Malta to work on a par with
engineers with British university degrees.
John Myers remained in Malta until 1970, when he left to continue his career at
Birmingham Polytechnic (later Birmingham City University), where he was director of
telecommunications studies. He was also a tutor for technology and telecommunications
courses for the Open University between 1972 and 1982; and in 1979 and 1983 he
organised and gave short courses on fibre optic and digital communications in New
Delhi, India and in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on behalf of the United Nations’ International
Telecommunications Union. In 1982 he travelled to Malawi, and was Reader and Head
of Electrical Engineering. Between 1983 and 1986 he was made Dean of the Faculty
of Engineering of the University of Malawi. In 1988 he returned to England, and was
visiting lecturer at the University of Aston, Birmingham, up to his merited retirement
at the age of 68.
3
John Myers’ contribution to the engineering profession went beyond education. He
was active in engineering organizations in three nations - the Institution of Electrical
Engineers and the Association for the Advancement of Science in the United Kingdom;
the Malawi Board of Engineers and the Malawi Joint Group of Professional Engineers,
of which he was chair; and the Malta Joint Group of Professional Engineers between
1965 and 1970.
John Myers’ devotion to engineering, spanning decades and nations, sets a standard for
engineering professionalism, which is of particular relevance to us graduates from the
University of Malta, given his important role in its history. In similar manner, Dr Albert
Ganado’s passion for history is mapped in projection of a life of dedication.
Albert Ganado is a graduate and alumnus of the University of Malta, a practitioner
of the legal profession since 1947. In 1962/63 he was President of the Malta Guild of
Graduates. This gentleman from the culture of Arts has however charted a vast territory
beyond law, and his navigation of the realms of history and cartography has resulted in
extensive contribution to the recording of national history.
Dr Ganado is an authority of highest repute on the history of Malta, respected by peers
and students in Malta and abroad. He has extended the knowledge and record of the
history of Melitensia by means of his academic contributions, which include several
books and numerous articles and papers on the history of art, politics, law and philately.
He has pioneered the study of Maltese engravings and lithography, and his contributions
to Maltese cartography are eminent. He has furthermore made Maltese History more
accessible, not only to scholars but also to the public, his contributions on the subject,
as well as on current events, to the Encyclopaedia Britannica between 1955 and 2004
being exemplary. His academic activities are by no means over, and the promise of
further contributions to the literature is to be counted as a blessing to academia.
Whether it was the erudite collector who produced the academic, or the researcher who
amassed the collection, Dr Ganado himself will have to tell us. A keen and meticulous
4
collector of Melitensia, his collections include prints, books, manuscripts, portraits,
postcards, stamps and of course maps. The latter, compiled in the Albert Ganado Malta
Map Collection, are best known, and are currently a valuable part of the national
heritage of the Maltese Islands.
‘Lawyer’, ‘academic’ and ‘collector’ all apply to Dr Ganado’s description, but this
is still incomplete without a further label: founder. Over the course of his career (a
noun which should in his context be given in the plural) he was founder member, and
also past president, of the Malta Historical Society, Malta’s leading NGO for the study
and promotion of Maltese History. He is founder and current president of the Malta
Map Society, a study group for the promotion of research on Maltese cartography.
His contributions to this art and science were recognized by the International Map
Collectors’ Society, which selected Dr Ganado as recipient of the International Map
Collectors’ Society Helen Wallis Award for 2011. Dr Albert Ganado’s placing of Maltese
cartography on the map is the most celebrated, but tonight’s recognition goes to all his
contributions to society, which are multifarious.
A map is an historic document, yet its identity is that of a scientific device; the
engineering degree is a tool of science, and yet we graduates acknowledge and celebrate
the history it represents, tallying 50 years in 2013. The borders between arts and science
are soluble: I have the pleasure of lecturing on scientific techniques to students studying
archaeology, whilst my friend and colleague the Head of the Department of Classics and
Archaeology has led a group of engineering students to visit a local site representative
of classic technology, oil pressing. These are small contributions to the complex
relationship between two science and arts, and no doubt the obnoxious introspective
borders will fade into and out of existence again. But let us not consider borders today,
let arts and science forget any differences in this joint celebration of two gentlemen
from one, powerful culture, the culture of knowledge.
5
Albert Ganado
Albert Ganado is, perhaps, best known as an international authority on cartography
related to the Maltese Islands and their Mediterranean context having been an avid,
lifetime collector of such maps and plans. However, he is, by profession, an advocate
who practised civil and criminal law for many years after graduating B.A. (1944) and
LL.D. (1946) from the Royal University of Malta.
Dr Ganado has published widely both locally and overseas. His books and articles cover
various aspects of Maltese history – art, legislation, politics and philately. Between
1955 and 2004, he contributed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica on Maltese History
and current events. In 1994, the Malta University Library produced a Festschrift in his
honour, Liber Amicorum Dr Albert Ganado, edited by Joseph Schirò, Sven Sorensen
and Paul Xuereb. At present, Dr Ganado is working on a new publication and on other
projects. He is well known for his meticulous records and the generosity with which he
regularly provides information to students and historians alike.
Also very active in the cultural milieu of Malta, Dr Ganado is a past President of
the Malta Historical Society, past Vice-President of the Maltese Association of the
Sovereign Military Order of St John, Chairman of the Cultural Heritage Panel of the
Malta Environment and Planning Authority, member of the Board of Directors of
the Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, past Chairman of the National Archives Advisory
Committee, Knight of Magistral Grace of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and
recipient of the award Croce di Commendatore al Merito Melitense in the same Order.
He has also been appointed Member of the Maltese National Order of Merit.
In 2008, Heritage Malta acquired 450 maps of Malta from Dr Ganado, known as the
Albert Ganado Malta Map Collection. In 2011, Dr Ganado was awarded the International
Map Collectors’ Society Helen Wallis Award given to those persons who have dedicated
their lifetime to the study of cartography.
6
Conferment of the Degree of
Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa)
WHEREAS THE UNIVERSITY RECOGNISES
the significant contribution made by
Albert Ganado
by his dedicated study of cartography over the span of over three decades, his
contributions to the national and international literature on cartography, and the
compilation of a collection of maps of Malta, which are now a valuable contribution to
national heritage;
and his study and publication on diverse aspects of Maltese history including art,
legislation, politics and philately.
THIS UNIVERSITY ACCLAIMS HIM
a meritorious candidate for the Degree of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) of this
Alma Mater.
Now therefore, by virtue of the powers vested in us by the Law and Statutes governing
this University, the said distinction of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) is being
conferred on
Albert Ganado
on this 22 day of November of the year of Our Lord 2013.
7
Methodus conferendo Gradui Academico
Doctoris in Studiis Litterarum (Honoris Causa)
Adiutor a libellis, in suo loco erectus, stante ante propriam sedem Canditato, sic ait:
Praeclarissime domine, placuit auctoritatibus Universitati moderandae praefectis
dignum te declarare qui laureae insignibus decoreris.
Statim a Decano, in medio circuli stante, haec formula legitur, Candidato coram ipso
praesente:
Tuum in conspectum, Magnifice Rector, adducimus hunc lectissimum Dominum,
omnibus laureae insignibus, more institutoque majorum, a te honestandum qui, a
conciliariis et senatoribus hujus Universitatis dignissimis praesentatus, te mox rogabit
ut, tibi attributa potestate, eum Doctorem in Studiis Litterarum (Honoris Causa)
renunties, atque in eiusmodi censu cooptatum adscriptumque nomines atque edicas.
Hac postulatione facta, ab Illmo. Rectore confertur gradus juxta formulam, ut sequitur:
FORMULA
Ab Illmo. Rectore pronuncianda dum confert Candidato laureae insignia:
Ut itaque Deus, exoratus, vertat bene, nobis attributa auctoritate, te Doctorem in Studiis
Litterarum (Honoris Causa) eo jure censeri et esse quo optimo sunt creati alii, edicimus
et pronunciamus, tibique omnibus honoribus, cum laurea coniunctis, fruendi et utendi
facultatem facimus.
His expletis, Illmus. Rector Candidato insignia dabit, nempe, togam, pileum, dicens:
Cape jam collatae tibi dignitatis ornamenta, et quid illa instituto majorum portendant
intellege.
Gesta sic togam hanc, ut norint omnes te in Doctorum Collegium allectum esse.
Sit tibi liberalis pileus hic, veluti ornamentum laureum, quo donabantur post certamen
victores.
Quantopere vero te de dignitate adepta in totius academici coetus nomine gratulamur,
testetur tibi hic noster amplexus.
8
Procedure for the Conferment of the Degree of
Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa)
The Registrar proclaims the Resolution of the Senate and the Council of the University.
She then calls on the Honorary Graduand to approach the Dignitaries so as to be vested
with the symbols of the academic honour decreed.
The sponsor then approaches the dais and pronounces the following words:
Rector, we are presenting this distinguished personage so that you confer the academic
honour of Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) in the manner and tradition of our
University. In accordance with the will of the Senate and of the Council, I am requesting
that you, Rector, with the authority that you hold, declare him Doctor of Literature
(Honoris Causa) so that his name be recorded in the book of graduates.
Following this pronouncement, the most Distinguished Rector proceeds to confer the
Degree by first addressing the Honorary Graduand thus:
By the authority vested in me, I declare and proclaim you to be enrolled and considered
as Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) by the same supreme law as others have been
chosen. We give you the opportunity of enjoying and using all the honours which are
connected with the degree.
Subsequently, the Rector bestows the symbols of the Doctorate saying:
Take now the insignia of merit conferred on you, and understand what they mean
according to the tradition of the past.
Wear this gown so that all may recognise that you have been chosen for membership of
our college of graduates.
Let this cap be a sign of intellectual merit, analogous to the crown of laurel bestowed
for excellence, in the past.
Indeed, insofar as we, in the name of the whole academic gathering, congratulate you
on the merit received, let this embrace be a testimony to you.
9
John Alfred Myers
It was during his National Service (1948 – 1950) that John Myers discovered that he
had a talent as an instructor and this provided him with the motivation to embark on an
academic career in his chosen area of electrical engineering.
In 1954, Mr Myers joined the Walker Mining and Technical College in the UK as
Lecturer. Following two years at the Barrow in Furness Technical College, Mr Myers
left the UK in 1960 to take up a post as Instructor and Lecturer in Electrical Engineering
at the Kumasi University in Ghana where he remained until 1964. That year, Mr Myers
took up a post at the College of Arts, Science & Technology in Malta, first as Lecturer,
then as Senior Lecturer and later as Acting Head of Department.
At MCAST, Mr Myers pioneered the first Engineering Degree Course at the Royal
University of Malta. One of his laudable achievements in those years was the attainment
of recognition of the B.Sc. (Eng.) and the Dip. Eng. qualifications by the Institution
of Electrical Engineers in 1968. This meant that graduating students were accepted
as graduate members of the IEE. Whilst in Malta, he wrote a text book on Electrical
Science and in 1967 gained his M.Sc. from the University of Malta.
After 1970, Mr Myers joined the Birmingham Polytechnic, that then became of the
Birmingham City University, where he lectured for twelve years becoming Director
of Telecommunications Studies. In 1982, he went back to Africa, to the University of
Malawi returning to Birmingham, to the University of Aston, as Visiting Lecturer until
1997.
Mr Myers is remembered with affection and respect by all those early Engineering
graduates who had the fortune to benefit from his academic expertise and from his
continued interest in the future of his students.
10
Conferment of the Degree of
Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa)
WHEREAS THE UNIVERSITY RECOGNISES
the significant contribution made by
John Alfred Myers
in the establishment of the engineering degree in Malta, as an academic in the College
of Arts, Science and Technology and in the Royal University of Malta where he was
instrumental in the design of the engineering course and served as lecturer to the first
cohorts of students;
and in his dedication to engineering and to technical education, and to the engineering
profession, over the span of his career in his home country, the United Kingdom, and
beyond, in Malta as well as in Ghana and Malawi.
THIS UNIVERSITY ACCLAIMS HIM
a meritorious candidate for the Degree of Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa) of
this Alma Mater.
Now therefore, by virtue of the powers vested in us by the Law and Statutes governing
this University, the said distinction of Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa) is being
conferred on
John Alfred Myers
on this 22 day of November of the year of Our Lord 2013.
11
Methodus conferendo Gradui Academico
Doctoris in Re Machinali (Honoris Causa)
Adiutor a libellis, in suo loco erectus, stante ante propriam sedem Canditato, sic ait:
Praeclarissime domine, placuit auctoritatibus Universitati moderandae praefectis
dignum te declarare qui laureae insignibus decoreris.
Statim a Decano, in medio circuli stante, haec formula legitur, Candidato coram ipso
praesente:
Tuum in conspectum, Magnifice Rector, adducimus hunc lectissimum Dominum,
omnibus laureae insignibus, more institutoque majorum, a te honestandum qui, a
conciliariis et senatoribus hujus Universitatis dignissimis praesentatus, te mox rogabit
ut, tibi attributa potestate, eum Doctorem in Re Machinali (Honoris Causa) renunties,
atque in eiusmodi censu cooptatum adscriptumque nomines atque edicas.
Hac postulatione facta, ab Illmo. Rectore confertur gradus juxta formulam, ut sequitur:
FORMULA
Ab Illmo. Rectore pronuncianda dum confert Candidato laureae insignia:
Ut itaque Deus, exoratus, vertat bene, nobis attributa auctoritate, te Doctorem in Re
Machinali (Honoris Causa) eo jure censeri et esse quo optimo sunt creati alii, edicimus
et pronunciamus, tibique omnibus honoribus, cum laurea coniunctis, fruendi et utendi
facultatem facimus.
His expletis, Illmus. Rector Candidato insignia dabit, nempe, togam, pileum, dicens:
Cape jam collatae tibi dignitatis ornamenta, et quid illa instituto majorum portendant
intellege.
Gesta sic togam hanc, ut norint omnes te in Doctorum Collegium allectum esse.
Sit tibi liberalis pileus hic, veluti ornamentum laureum, quo donabantur post certamen
victores.
Quantopere vero te de dignitate adepta in totius academici coetus nomine gratulamur,
testetur tibi hic noster amplexus.
12
Procedure for the Conferment of the Degree of
Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa)
The Registrar proclaims the Resolution of the Senate and the Council of the University.
She then calls on the Honorary Graduand to approach the Dignitaries so as to be vested
with the symbols of the academic honour decreed.
The sponsor then approaches the dais and pronounces the following words:
Rector, we are presenting this distinguished personage so that you confer the academic
honour of Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa) in the manner and tradition of our
University. In accordance with the will of the Senate and of the Council, I am requesting
that you, Rector, with the authority that you hold, declare him Doctor of Engineering
(Honoris Causa) so that his name be recorded in the book of graduates.
Following this pronouncement, the most Distinguished Rector proceeds to confer the
Degree by first addressing the Honorary Graduand thus:
By the authority vested in me, I declare and proclaim you to be enrolled and considered
as Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa) by the same supreme law as others have
been chosen. We give you the opportunity of enjoying and using all the honours which
are connected with the degree.
Subsequently, the Rector bestows the symbols of the Doctorate saying:
Take now the insignia of merit conferred on you, and understand what they mean
according to the tradition of the past.
Wear this gown so that all may recognise that you have been chosen for membership of
our college of graduates.
Let this cap be a sign of intellectual merit, analogous to the crown of laurel bestowed
for excellence, in the past.
Indeed, insofar as we, in the name of the whole academic gathering, congratulate you
on the merit received, let this embrace be a testimony to you.
13
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY
The University of Malta traces its origins to the founding of the Collegium Melitense by
the Jesuits in 1592. The College was raised to university status by Grand Master Manoel
Pinto de Fonseca in 1769.
Situated in Msida, the University of Malta is the highest teaching institution of the
State. The supreme governing bodies of the University are the Council and the Senate.
There are over 11,000 students, including over 800 international students from about 85
different countries, following full-time and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate
degree and diploma courses run on a modular structure and based on the ECTS credit
system. The European Commission awarded the University the Diploma Supplement
Quality Label in 2013.
The University is geared towards the infrastructural, industrial, cultural, health and
hospitality needs of the country so as to provide expertise in crucial fields. Over 3300
students graduate in various disciplines annually. The degree courses at the University
are designed to produce highly qualified professionals with experience of research,
who will play key roles in industry, commerce and public affairs in general. There are
a further 3,500 pre-tertiary students at the Junior College which is managed by the
University.
The University today has fourteen faculties and a number of institutes and centres.
Amongst these are the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, the Institute of
Earth Systems, the Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture, the Institute for Climate
Change & Sustainable Development, the Institute of Digital Games, the Institute for
European Studies and the Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of
Thinking, offering both undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are very popular
with international students. International Master’s degree programmes are also offered
on a joint or double degree basis, with each Master’s programme being accredited
by the University of Malta and at least another leading North American or European
university.
The Msida campus is also home to the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI)
and the International Ocean Institute Malta Operational Centre (IOI-MOC).
There are a number of fields which the University has identified as priority areas.
These include Information and Communication Technology, Engineering, Creative
Industries and Sustainable Development. Enhanced relations with industry continue to
be a priority, as does the University’s contribution to the improvement of primary and
secondary education and the forging of inter-university links to stimulate international
student and staff exchanges and research projects.
The University of Malta is a member of the European Universities Association, the
European Access Network, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the
European Universities Continuing Education Network, the Utrecht Network, the
Santander Network, the Compostela Group and the International Student Exchange
Programme (ISEP). Over the years the University has participated in a number of EU
programmes and has been awarded many projects in collaboration with various partner
universities.
14