Effective communication, reading are pillars of the ‘university-educated’, Rector tells students

University of Malta Rector Alred Vella outlined effective communication and appropriate reading as the elements for a successful university experience that leads to success beyond the campus.

Addressing first-year university students during his welcoming speech for the academic year 2016-2017, Vella emphasised the university experience as being a time to develop oneself holistically and through hard work.

One main pillar to this, Vella said, was honing the skill of effective communication.

“A University education is not successful if it teaches one several complicated and sophisticated skills but fails to instill in him or her the capacity of communicating effectively to others what one knows,” he said. “I think effective communication is key to being ‘academically educated’.”

To this end, the rector pushed for a campus debate society and said he would promote on campus a culture of formal and proper debate in order to offer students to opportunity to practise intelligent and inclusive articulation, as well as develop assertiveness.

“The talent of proper speaking is precious and needs to be developed as best as possible especially via interaction with fellow students on campus and inside seminar rooms and in similar fora,” he said.

Vella announced that in order to better equip students with the skills necessary for the job market, the University would be providing expert additional assistance in writing in English to undergraduates who require it, thereby addressing figures in the ‘National Employment Skills Survey’, according to which, 27% of employers have difficulty filling vacancies due to poor use of English.

Vella also mentioned that, as a result of feedback from employers, the University was introducing a class on the rules of etiquette, addressing non-verbal communication skills.

Furthermore, Vella explained the need to have the correct approach to reading.

“To be successful, such an undertaking relies heavily on the learner becoming an engaged reader, indeed a lifelong reader, not just out of necessity but also because reading is part of the pursuit of pleasure,” he said, adding that students are required to “be mindful of the need to adjust your reading mode to the demands of the situation in hand as defined by the purpose of the read and its context.”