Malta

Or did you mean Order of Malta?

Partners situated in Malta

None.

Malta in a nutshell

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta)

Malta, officially the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a densely populated developed island nation in the European Union. The origin of the term "Malta" is uncertain and the modern day variation derives from the Maltese language. The most common etymology is that it comes from the Greek word μέλι (meli) ('honey'). The Greeks called the island Μελίτη (Melite) meaning "honey" or "honey-sweet" possibly due to Malta's unique production of honey; an endemic species of bee lives on the island, giving it the popular nickname the "land of honey".[18] Another etymology is the Phoenician word Maleth, the Phoenician name for the islands, meaning "a haven"[19] in reference to Malta's many bays and coves.

The Republic of Malta is an archipelago including the inhabited islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino along with a number of smaller, uninhabited islands. It is situated centrally in the Mediterranean Sea, 93 km south of Sicily (Italy) and 288 km north of Tunisia. Gibraltar is 1,826 km to the west and Alexandria 1,510 km to the east.[7]

Malta is just over 300 km² with an estimated population of over 400,000 people.

Malta's de facto capital is Valletta and the biggest city is Birkirkara.

The islands enjoy a Mediterranean climate.

The country's official languages are Maltese and English, which replaced Italian in 1934.

Malta has a long legacy of Roman Catholicism, which continues to be the official and dominant religion in Malta.

Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a Republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. It is a member of the European Union, which it joined in 2004, and also of the United Nations. Malta implemented the Schengen Agreement on December 21, 2007.

Malta is a republic, whose parliamentary system and public administration is closely modeled on the UK system. The unicameral House of Representatives, (Maltese: Il-Kamra tad- Deputati), is elected by direct universal suffrage through single transferable vote every five years, unless the House is dissolved earlier by the President on advice of the Prime Minister. The House of Representatives is made up of 65 Members of Parliament. However, where a party wins an absolute majority of votes, but does not have a majority of seats, that party is given additional seats to ensure a parliamentary majority. The Constitution of Malta provides that the President appoint as Prime Minister the member of the House who is best able to command a (governing) majority in the House. The President of the Republic is elected every five years by the House of Representatives. The role of the president as head of state is largely ceremonial.

Since 1993 Malta has been divided into 68 elected local councils, with each council responsible for the administration of cities or regions of varying sizes. Administrative responsibility is distributed between the local councils and the central government in Valletta. There are no intermediate levels between local government and national government and the levels of the 6 districts (5 on the main island) and of the 3 regions (2 on the main island) serve primarily statistical purposes.

Economy

Presently, Malta’s major resources are limestone, a favourable geographic location and a productive labour force. Malta produces only about 20% of its food needs, has limited freshwater supplies and has no domestic energy sources. The economy is dependent on foreign trade (serving as a freight trans-shipment point), manufacturing (especially electronics and textiles) and tourism. Tourism infrastructure has increased dramatically over the years and a number of good-quality hotels are present on the island, although overdevelopment and the destruction of traditional housing is of growing concern. An increasing number of Maltese now travel abroad on holiday.[57] Although they are still a net importer of tourism, the ratio of inbound tourists to outbound tourists is decreasing. The popular Mdina Glass enterprise was established on the island in 1968 by Michael Harris, a former tutor at the UK's RCA.

Film production is a growing contributor to the Maltese economy, with several big-budget foreign films shooting in Malta each year. The country has increased the exports of many other types of services such as banking and finance.

The government is investing heavily in education, including college.

Malta has recently privatised some state-controlled firms and liberalised markets in order to prepare for membership in the European Union, which it joined on May 1, 2004. For example, the government announced on January 8, 2007 that it is selling its 40% stake in Maltapost, in order to complete a privatisation process which has been ongoing for the past five years.

Malta and Tunisia are currently discussing the commercial exploitation of the continental shelf between their countries, particularly for petroleum exploration.

Malta does not have a property tax.

According to Eurostat data, Maltese PPS GDP per capita stood at 76 per cent of the EU average in 2008

Higher education

Universities in Malta

(this is an important section)

Higher education reform

The Bologna Process

(very important for European countries)

Virtual Campuses in HE

Interesting Virtual Campus Initiatives

(another very important section)

Re.ViCa Case-study

None.

References

• The dawn of e-learning in Malta, 2007, http://www.martindebattista.com/blog/2007/07/dawn-of-e-learning-in-malta.html

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