The Faculty of Arts is one of the largest Faculties with a student population totalling some 1,300. Sixteen departments - Anthropological Sciences, Classics and Archaeology, English, French, Geography, German, History, History of Art, International Relations, Italian, Maltese, Oriental Studies, Philosophy, Sociology, Spanish and Latin American Studies and Translation and Interpreting – make up the Faculty of Arts. Additional areas of study, administered by Boards of Studies, include Communication Studies, Contemporary Mediterranean Studies, Libarary Information and Archive Studies, Linguistics, Music Studies, Psychology, and Theatre Studies.
The Faculty of Arts offers full-time and part-time courses leading to B.A., B.A.(Hons), M.A. and Ph.D., as well as a number of certificate and diploma level courses. The Faculty’s taught programmes are a balance of compulsory study-units and elective ones, creating space for students to pursue their individual interests and preferences. This has made it possible over the years for the Faculty’s undergraduate students to participate in student mobility programmes both in Europe and elsewhere. The Faculty does its best to be flexible in order to promote such student experiences. The Board of the Faculty of Arts and its committees are increasingly concerned with quality assurance of academic programmes. At all degree levels, external examiners are involved in the final assessment of students, after a long tradition that has secured international recognition to all the degree programmes of the Faculty of Arts, long before the onset of modern audit systems. Besides offering its own degree programmes, the Faculty of Arts services a number of faculties, institutes and centres within the University, often supplying a substantial proportion of the content of their programmes. The Faculty of Arts boasts of an excellent staff-student relationship, which students coming from other universities sometimes find impressive. Although student numbers have grown over recent years, the staff-student ratio is still a good one. While some classes can be large, most classes are small enough to allow for more personalised and participatory learning/teaching practices such as tutorials, seminars and workshops. Students in the Faculty of Arts are among the most active in student life and participate readily in exchange programmes. The presence of a significant number of overseas students, in regular enrolment or on exchange visits, enriches the experience of students and academic staff alike.
