The University of Malta’s Faculty for Social Wellbeing organised the first Dean’s Award ceremony on 21 February. The Dean’s Award honours the best students of the Faculty. There were 12 candidates eligible for the awards, seven of whom were awarded the Outstanding Master Students’ Award and five whose name was placed on the Dean’s List for excellence in their undergraduate studies.

 The Faculty for Social Wellbeing was established by the Council of the University in July 2012. The setting up of the Faculty brought together a number of entities of the University which address different aspects of social wellbeing. These were existing departments, institutes or centres of the University, or were newly created with the establishment of the Faculty for Social Wellbeing. The Faculty comprises the departments of Counselling, Criminology, Family Studies, Gender Studies, Psychology, Social Policy and Social Work, Youth and Community Studies and the Disability Studies Unit. 

This being the first Dean’s Award ceremony, students who graduated from the Faculty in 2012 were also recognised for their excellence. The Social Commitment Award intended to acknowledge students’ input in this area has been set up, but as there were no nominees for it this year, the Faculty expressed confidence that this award will be given in a future edition of the Dean’s Award ceremony.   

The Dean’s Awards were supported by Agenda Bookshop, CareMalta, Copyclub, Delicata Wines, Foundation for Educational Services, Foundation for Social Welfare Services, National Commission Persons with Disability, Nectar, The Commissioner for Children, The General Soft Drinks Company Limited, The Maltese Association for the Counselling Profession and The Maltese Association of Social Workers.