The rector has, on a number of occasions, stated that the university is an Università ta’ Malta (a university ‘of’ and ‘for’ Malta). It is there to serve our communities and react not only through scholarship and the endless list of courses we offer but also through academic activism informed by research data and stories of people we engage with.
This is an ethos the Faculty for Social Well-being has adopted and taken on board during these 10 years since the senate, on June 21, 2012, proposed to recommend “the setting up a Faculty for Social Well-being”. The University Council meeting on July 19, 2012 “agreed to the recommendation of senate and approved that the 14th faculty of the University of Malta be set up as the Faculty for Social Well-being”.
Along the years, the faculty has developed a tenet circumventing the principle of social justice, which is shared among the faculty community.
The criticism that is often addressed at us is that the academic community is comfortable in its ivory tower. I feel this denunciation is rather unjust and a cliché that holds water no more, at least not with our faculty.
Our academics have been in the forefront of so many causes, whether it is woman’s and LGBTQI+ rights; pro-choice and pro-life activism; prisoner and victims’ rights; social governance; children’s rights; femicide; domestic and gender-based violence activism... and the list can go on forever. The value added in our faculty is that those contrasting views have the space to be debated within the various fora of the faculty. We are indeed a safe space, ready to hear, ready to listen and ready to engage.
A faculty is not simply an entity that sits waiting for things to happen. A faculty is organic and made up of resident academics; students; researchers; administrators; visiting lecturers; dissertation supervisors and placement and practicum supervisors; the cleaners and all the stakeholders involved in the social sector. A team of over 200 people serve the almost 1,000 students we have, including the 70 MPhil/PhD candidates (expected to reach the 100 mark by next year).
We churn out over 300 graduands at all levels, mostly professionals; social workers; social policy administrators; counsellors; psychologists; family therapists; gerontologists; youth workers; community workers and experts in criminology; disability studies; gender studies; sexualities; volunteering studies; addiction studies; mental health studies; children studies; youth justice and so many other areas of expertise. Added to that, we offer over 50 courses.
The crux of our faculty, however, has always been that of having an ear to the ground, listening and acting according to what the stakeholders are telling us. We respond immediately and expediently to what is happening around us through our research, teaching, scholarship and academic activism.
We respond immediately and expediently to what is happening around us through our research, teaching, scholarship and academic activism- Andrew Azzopardi
In fact, during these last years, we have, as a faculty, funded six MPhil/PhDs scholarships, have drawn in some €1.5 million of national research funds, which provided more than 50 reports on an array of themes (housing; community development; solitary confinement; migration; radicalisation; parental alienation; disability, LGBTQI+; children; welfare; loneliness; COVID-19; youth; service provision; deinstitutionalisation; eating disorders; to name just a few).
The outcome from these studies was that of providing over 800 practical social policy proposals (which are expected to reach 1,000 by the end of next year). We have also provided a much-needed resource for NGOs to access research data and reports through a simple click of a finger.
But all of this needs to be communicated and, apart from active socials, we have a faculty research journal; a weekly digest; a bi-annual newsletter; a vlog; shortly setting up a podcast; a newspaper; have a professorial lecture series and brown-bag seminars; and a research app will soon be set up. This apart from over 200 contributions per academic year on the traditional media where we share the work we are doing.
There is more. We are also involved in several committees and strategies.
Responding effectively to what is happening around us is of the essence. Over the years, we have become a key stakeholder and have made it a point to be in all the fora dealing with themes around the social sector.
Our numbers speak volumes; that’s true but what is important is that we realise that there is still so much more to do and some of it is urgent. Issues like femicide, domestic and gender-based violence, a lack of children’s voice and a lack of efficiency in our institutions is ear-splitting and needs to be addressed urgently.
We need to be governed by social justice at all costs. The same way we have placed the theme of loneliness; solitary confinement; prisoner and victims’ rights; migration; responsible and positive parenting; are proponents of a good economic model and good governance; we also need to keep pushing for more changes.
We try to do that through the annual population scientific survey which helps us gauge how people think about the life they are living because society is not fair for all.
We still have disadvantaged populations within our community. Wealth is not being justly distributed, many struggle with quality of life and services are not always addressing the needs of the people who are asking for them.
We need to work more together, retain the people who are working in the sector, strengthen the voluntary sector and make sure that our public policy is governed not by monetary wealth but by ensuring a quality of life and social well-being for all.
Still a lot of work to do but I find comfort that, in 10 years, we managed to do so much.
Prof. Andrew Azzopardi is the dean of the Faculty for Social Well-being.