Malta recently signed a Heads of Agreement with a Jordanian investor for the setting up of what will be known as the American University of Malta, which will team up with the De Paul University for the project.
Yet world rankings indicate that neither it, nor the University of Malta might be considered top tier universities.
Forbes list of top colleges ranks DePaul University in 320th place in the USA, out of a total of 650 universities and colleges.
It ranks 127th in the research universities category, 234th in private colleges and 77th in the Mid-West region.
Forbes uses a number of factors to calculate their rankings. Student satisfaction (25%), post-graduate success (32.5%), student debt (25%), graduation rate (7.5%) and academic success (10%).
DePaul University seems to be very selective in the students it accepts, with a rate standing at 60% according to Forbes, and has a low student to faculty ratio, of 16 students to each faculty member.
The University was founded by the Vincentians in 1898 and Forbes describes it as the largest Catholic University in the US based on enrolment.
Notable alumni include US Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer and CEO of McDonald’s USA , Jack Greenberg.
Neither the University of Malta, not DePaul make it to top 500
As for the well-known Times Higher Education world rankings, neither DePaul University nor the University of Malta make the list (comprised of the top 500 universities in the world).
On the same rankings, DePaul University does not appear within the top 400 Universities in USA and the University of Malta, as well as Middlesex University which has a campus in Malta, do not appear in the top 400 in Europe.
The Guardian does however run its own league table of Universities based within the UK, with Middlesex ranking 86th out of 116.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities, known as the Shanghai rankings, also does not list either of the two universities, University of Malta and DePaul, in its top 500 rankings.
The above statistics indicate that both the University of Malta and the proposed DePaul University are not considered top universities in the world, however this is not to say that they would not rank well in specific subject areas, as the above ranks focus on universities in their entirety rather than on specific subjects like medicine. One must also keep in mind that funding and university size can also affect ranks.
Investing in tertiary education
In 2011, now Justice Minister for Justice Owen Bonnici wrote an opinion article in the local press, and said: “We cannot keep acting as if we’re happy to think that our University is the educational equivalent of a traditional parish church in the middle of a Maltese village which takes care of the spiritual needs of the immediate micro community. I am sure the persons leading the University right now have a much broader horizon in their mind and are well aware that Europe’s economic competitors are improving their performance. If we truly believe that our University must become a centre of excellence in our region, then we should invest as hard as we can to portray ourselves as a truly competitive and modern university and thus a leading country with a strong and well-performing economy”.
“If we truly believe that our University must become a centre of excellence in our region, then we should invest as hard as we can to portray ourselves as a truly competitive and modern university and thus a leading country with a strong and well-performing economy”