Five students from the Environmental Studies programme at the University of Malta will be joining twenty other students from four other island-based European Universities for a two-week summer school in September 2013, organised under the Erasmus Intensive Programme of the European Union.

The other participating universities are La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain; Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, Spain; Universita’ di Corsica Pascal Paoli, France; and University of the Aegean, Mytilene Campus, Lesvos, Greece. The summer school will explore the principles and practices of islandness and sustainability, and is organised by the Department of Geography of the University of the Aegean, Greece.

The themes to be discussed at this summer school will include the specific prospects and challenges of alternative (green) energy on small islands, and the health of marine ecosystems. Professor Godfrey Baldacchino, from the University of Malta, will lead seminars and field work that will explore the subject and process of product branding and marketing, particularly of locally made food and beverages. The set-up of the summer school makes for an exciting academic environment, with lots of practical hands-on learning both on land and in the sea.

This summer school is one of a number of initiatives being taken in the context of RETI (Reseau d’Excellence des Territories Insulaires) – a consortium of island-based universities from around the world, an initiative of the University of Corsica and of which the University of Malta is a founder member.

For further details, visit the summer school website at: http://www.geo.aegean.gr/ip/.

Photograph – Alain Salvary.

Permalink: Exploring Islandness and Sustainability – Summer school