Wine e-Learning Campus in Malta

Following a successful trial run in London, the European Wine Academy (EWA) has expanded internationally and chosen Malta as the base for its Mediterranean Campus, offering a range of high-standard short, long and professional wine courses to students in the region that encompasses Sicily, Sardinia, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

Professional wine courses will be delivered mainly through interactive, professional e-learning classes, which is a first for the region and Malta as well.

The Mediterranean Campus in Malta is the first of a number of satellite campuses to be set up by the EWA around the world with those of Germany, Australia, Chile and California under negotiation.

The e-learning wine courses series are designed to reach any student anywhere as long as he or she has the interest, a computer and an Internet connection.

E-learning wine courses are delivered in English at the Mediterranean Campus by international wine experts and oenologists, and co-ordinated by appointed EWA regional director Georges Meekers, who himself is a well respected, Belgian-born wine professional residing in Malta.

All Professional Certificate and Associate Degree e-courses are of a high academic and professional standard, overseen by principal Derek Koch and a board of trustees, headed by president and Dutch master of wine, Frank Smulders.

Other renowned international wine experts and oenologists act as tutors and share their inside knowledge directly over the Internet with students who cannot attend courses in a regular classroom because of work schedules, family needs, geographical isolation, or other reasons.

Subjects are Sommeliership and Hospitality, Wine Tourism, Wine Sales and Retail, Wine Entrepreneurship, Wine Marketing, Wine Business Management and Oenology.

Malta won the bid to become the home of the Mediterranean Campus thanks to its central position in the Mediterranean and because Malta is, more than any other Mediterranean country, experiencing a renaissance in winegrowing - all of which make it the ideal field for practicums, in addition to virtual wine classes.

Mr Meekers said: "Having its base in Malta, the Mediterranean Campus will definitively 'link' the Maltese Islands even more with the rest of the wine world. If anything, foreign students and international, professional wine tutors alike will have no choice but to prepare a fresh folder labelled 'Malta', which will fit snugly between the other wine regions 'Madeira' and 'La Mancha'..."

For more information visit www.winecampus.org or send an e-mail to deanofstudents@winecampus.org.