Father and daughter graduate from University together

This year’s graduation season was made a bit more special when a father and daughter celebrated their academic milestone together at the University of Malta.

Josef Vella and his 24-year-old daughter, Rebecca Vella, supported one another during their master’s studies, and the duo celebrated their graduation with other postgraduate students on Wednesday. 

The 57-year-old graduated with a Master’s in Public Policy Leadership, while Rebecca graduated with a Master's in Accountancy. 

The pair’s dual graduation was highlighted in a video posted by the University of Malta. 

Josef said he joined the course with two other colleagues of his, and while it was “completely out of his comfort zone”, Josef told Times of Malta that his professional background is in IT and project management, which he mainly focuses on software and managing technology projects.  

Despite studying a completely new and unexplored field, he found support from new friends and his daughter. 

“With her support, quitting (the course) was never an option. She was my driving force,” he explained. 

The pair motivated one another, and while Rebecca joked, she was the one who stressed the most out of the two.

She was also the first to hand in her dissertation, pointing out that her father had an extension.

“You caught me out,” Josef joked. 

He said apart from the emotional moment of graduating together, the duo shared many small, meaningful moments, such as driving to University together and discussing assignments.

"These moments made the experience more special," he told Times of Malta.

The duo is part of the 1,620 cohort of Master’s and PhD students who graduated in the past two weeks, a record number for the University of Malta.

A total of 18 ceremonies were held over the past two weeks.