The University of Malta is a public university in which undergraduate students from Malta and the European Union who qualify for admission may go for free.
It traces its roots back to 1592, with the founding of the Collegium Melitense by the Jesuits. The college building is now known as the Old University Building or the Valletta Campus.
It was then established as a traditional university some 250 years ago in 1769.
Today, the Valletta Campus houses the Evans Building for the Faculty of Science. There is also a medical campus near St Luke’s Hospital in Gwardamanga, a campus on Malta’s sister island Gozo, and a much larger campus at Tal-Qroqq in Msida, where the university is now mostly based. The sports complex includes an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a diving pool, a football ground, tennis courts and a track.
There are over 11,500 students, around 1,000 of whom are international students from over 92 countries. The Faculty of Dental Surgery accepts six European students a year. The university also hosts Erasmus and other exchange programmes.
A Foundation Studies Course is available to international students who have completed their secondary education but who do not have the necessary entry requirements to qualify for admission to an undergraduate course.
Maltese students enrolled in higher education in Malta are entitled to a stipend.
There are 14 faculties, a number of interdisciplinary institutes and centres and three schools.
The university motto is "Serving students, scholarship and society, sustainably".
