Education Minister Louis Galea met the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team from the University of Malta who represented Malta at SIFE’s European Symposium earlier this autumn in Paris. The courtesy visit gave SIFE a chance to recount their positive experience to the Minister.
At this international event, SIFE, sponsored by HSBC Bank Malta plc, presented the results of their community projects and beat two other national representatives in the opening round of the competition. The Maltese team also won a Spirit of SIFE Award in recognition of its achievement in its first year of operation. This prestigious award is given to teams who managed to put a certain amount of effort and SIFE attitude throughout the year.
SIFE UMT was recognised by the international stakeholders as being the fastest growing SIFE team to date, building a reputation of a dynamic, energetic and fresh team, which wants to grasp every opportunity and make it work, grasp every challenge and make it real, grasp every idea and transform it into concrete actions.
The European Symposium 2006 was a first-time initiative by SIFE in order to enable more students to feel an integral part of this huge international organisation. 1, 800 students from over 50 countries around the world met in one large complex to present their annual efforts in creating economic opportunities in their respective communities.
Although the Maltese team was the smallest and least experienced, SIFE UMT managed to gain everybody’s respect, praise and admiration. “I never imagined SIFE to be so big and important worldwide. This experience helped me to get a wider perspective of what awaits us in this global village. So this helps me to look to the future in a completely new way,” said Karl Galea, Research co-coordinator and Project Manager of SIFE UMT.
“SIFE experience in Paris was one of the greatest hallmarks in my life, where I could observe how local needs, problems and solutions are given a global dimension,” said SIFE Research Commissioner and Project Manager, Silvio Attard.