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University of Malta Rector, Professor Juanito Camilleri and Igino Xuereb, Chief Officer Operations of Bank of Valletta today announced the appointment of BOV as the official Education Partner of the Degreeplus programme.

The Degreeplus programme is the first of its kind in many ways, as Prof. Albert Caruana, Chairperson of the Degreeplus Committee explained. “This programme sets out to provide students with the opportunity to boost their academic studies with additional practical skills and experiences that enrich their character and employability,” said Prof. Caruana. The tag line ‘More than you’d credit!’ puts across the salient message of this programme, which is that of projecting the Degreeplus activities as an opportunity to obtain a more holistic approach to education in a fun environment.

For the first year 2007/2008, the programme is targeting first year students, but eventually it will be made available to all students. Among the units on offer, there is ‘Entrepreneurship’ which focuses on inspiring participants to be the leaders of tomorrow, ‘Voluntary work’ which requires students to undertake 20 hours of social work, ‘Information and Communication Technology’ that seeks to provide a basic understanding of computers, and ‘Language Development for Professional Purposes’ that seeks to enhance students’ language competence.

“To date 640 students have enrolled for the first two semesters in the 5 streams on offer, which augurs very well for the future of this Programme,” said University of Malta Rector, Prof. Juanito Camilleri. There are 220 registrations for Entrepreneurship, 112 for Voluntary Work, 60 for Information and Communication Technology, 129 for Culture and Heritage, and 119 for Languages.

Mr Igino Xuereb expressed Bank of Valletta’s delight in supporting the University of Malta in the development of the Degreeplus Programme as its Education Partner. “This is a truly innovative and most valid programme that will undoubtedly contribute towards our students getting a more holistic educational experience during their years at University,” said Mr. Xuereb. He added that the Bank’s appointment as the Education Partner of the University of Malta in the Degreeplus Programme continued to position BOV at the forefront of supporting education initiatives within the Maltese communities. “Education has always been an important pillar under our Community Programme and today’s appointment continues to consolidate BOV’s support to promote educational development in our country,” added Mr. Xuereb. He concluded by auguring the Rector well for the Degreeplus programme, whilst reiterating the Bank’s commitment to take an active role in the management of this project, so much so that a BOV representative will be an active member of the Committee overseeing the project.