The Queen Mary University of London Malta campus was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Thursday, three years after the promised date.

The four-storey 8,100 square metre building is situated in Gozo, next to the Gozo General Hospital. It includes a 140-seat auditorium, two smaller lecture theatres that can combine into a 120-seat facility, two computer labs (each with a capacity for 70 students) and teaching rooms and clinical skills rooms.

The new facilities also include a library, student support services, a large canteen/social space and offices.

In his speech, Dr Muscat described the new facilities as “a pole of investment around which a new community will be based”.

He hailed the partnership between the Maltese government, the education institution Queen Mary and Steward Health Care, the foremost provider of healthcare in the United States.

Queen Mary launched a five-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme two years ago. Its third cohort of students arrived to start their studies in September. 

Queen Mary University of London vice-principal Steve Thornton said the delivery of the clinical teaching facility was more than bricks and mortar, it was emblematic of the commitment to deliver an exciting future for healthcare in Malta.

“Queen Mary prides itself on being a truly global university and it prizes above all the diversity of its student and staff communities. It is. Therefore. incredibly gratifying that we have been able to attract so many international students to the country to learn here and to become members of the Maltese community,” Prof. Thornton said.

Director of operations Fiona Wilson said the organisation was already looking at a number of other medical courses and programmes – including short professional development courses for clinical staff and summer schools for medical students.