Computer Science and Information Technology in Malta Part 2

I was lucky enough to have the chance to interview Dr. Matthew Montebello, a professor in the Information and Communication Technology Department at the University of Malta. He was an invaluable resource for my project. Here is some of the information I learned from him and other resources.

One could argue that the status of Computer Science and Information Technology in Malta all starts with education. The University of Malta offers a three year full time Bachelor's Degree, a five year part time Bachelor's Degree and a two year Master's Degree. The Master's Degree can either be awarded based on research or teaching[2]. For a Ph. D., Dr. Montebello said that it is more customary for students to travel abroad but recently the University of Malta has started offering some Ph. D.'s in the fields of Computer Science and Information Technology[3].

I asked him about the change in the number of students in the department. He replied that the number of students have increased over the past 10 years but just very recently has plateaued and started to decline[3]. When questioned as to the cause of this phenomena he believed that the number of students has reached its maximum for the country[3]. I also asked him about the number of women students in the department and he estimated it to be less than 10%[3].

He also told me that since Malta is such a small country, much of the faculty have contacts in industry. This allows the them to arrange job placement within industry for many of the students. Industry is itself so important to the Information and Communication Technology Department of the University of Malta that they have their own committee dedicated to it[3].

We then started to discuss the industry itself. He told me that there is a massive demand for developers especially in testing and Information Technology consulting[3]. He also mentioned that casino style gaming is one heavily present part of industry in Malta[3].

It turns out that Information and Communication Technology isn't just important to the university but also to the Maltese government. They even have a Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology[1]. Dr. Montebello even told me that the Maltese Government have made a push for international companies to come to Malta with laws exempting these companies from taxation upon for building a branch in Malta[3].

From my research I believe that I can conclude that Computer Science and Information Technology has been and will be a significant industry in Malta as seen by the advantages of the few resources needed, the investment in research in both the public and private sectors, the status of education and the role the government is taking in the industry.

Works Sited

[1]"Department of Information." Department of Information. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. .

[2] "Faculty of ICT - Faculty of ICT - University of Malta." University of Malta. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.um.edu.mt/ict/>.

[3] "Interview with Dr. Matthew Montebello." Personal interview. 23 Mar. 2012