The University of Malta's IT Services (formerly known as Computing Services Centre) was established in 1997. The primary role of IT Services is to proactively support the teaching, research and related (both current and projected future) activities of the University through coordinated, efficient and effective use of information and communication technologies.
As an NREN, the University of Malta is a member of GÉANT which aims to promote collaboration, innovation and sharing of knowledge in order to foster the development of Internet technology, infrastructure and services to be used by the research and education community.
IT Services is a member of the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA).
IT Services is also a member of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association and community of IT leaders and professionals, whose mission is to advance higher education through the use of information technology.
IT Services is also an associate member of the Standing Conference for Heads of Media Services (SCHOMS), a professional body for Senior Managers working within higher education in the design, development, delivery and support of existing and new learning environments and technologies.
IT Services is also an organisational member of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), a community whose membership includes practitioners, researchers and policy makers with an interest in Learning Technology, i.e. the broad range of communication, information and related technologies that can be used to support learning, teaching and assessment.
The University IT Services manages the Maltese National Research & Education Network (NREN) providing access to the GÉANT network to local research and education institutions.
GÉANT, a project co-funded by the European Commission, is the pan-European research and education network connecting over 50 million users in over 10,000 institutions across 40 European countries.
GÉANT is a high capacity network that uses advanced techniques to overcome limitations of commercial networks to cater for a wide range of requirements: from bulk data transfer to the most demanding high quality interactive applications. The network enables research and education applications that require transfer of high-definition digital content and interaction in real-time, such as videoconferencing, virtual laboratories, multimedia interactive courses and grid applications.
The Malta Internet Foundation, also known as NIC(Malta), was set up by the University in 1999 and is responsible for the .MT top-level Internet domain for Malta. Domain names ending with .mt are all registered with NIC(Malta). The Foundation is hosted within the University campus and IT Services provides both administrative and technical support to NIC(Malta) operations.
The Foundation is also involved in various other activities to promote the development of Internet in Malta. It is a member of the Maltese IPv6 Task Force and, together with the University IT Services, coordinates the Malta IPv6 national test-bed.
