The Department of Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education in the Faculty of Education has been awarded EU Erasmus + funds in relation to a new research project called CAREss, short for 'Critical ARts Education for Sustainable Societies'. Project CAREss (KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education. 2021-1-CY01-KA220-HED-000032127) is being conducted in association with Frederick University in Nicosia, Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Uniwersytet Im. Adama Mickiewicza W Poznaniu and Universitat de Barcelona. Professor Raphael Vella is leading the team at the University of Malta, which also includes Dr Maria Cutajar and Dr Charmaine Zammit.

Fully engaged with the changing times we are currently experiencing and building on previous international research that the art programme at the Faculty of Education has been involved in, CAREss seeks to develop transformative pedagogies informed by online and blended learning modes of delivery. The research focuses specifically on arts education in Higher Education institutions while its thematic foci will include socially engaged art and sustainability.

During the next 28 months, the consortium aims to produce materials for pre-service and in-service teachers, as well as other relevant stakeholders, using different art-forms as critical platforms to initiate processes of change. Partners will also produce a handbook to support academics/ Higher Education Institutions in developing and implementing innovative arts education courses in an online and blended environment.