At the conference of ministers responsible for Higher Education, held in Berlin in 2003, ministers, including Minister for Education, Youth and Employment Louis Galea, had set the objective for all graduates to be awarded the Diploma Supplement on completion of any higher education qualification.

The Diploma Supplement is an explanatory document attached to the original degree certificate, and is aimed at improving international “transparency” and facilitating the academic and professional recognition of qualifications (diplomas, degrees, certificates and so on). It is designed to provide a description of the nature, level, context, content and status of the studies that were pursued and successfully completed by the individual named on the original qualification to which the supplement is appended.

In keeping with its strong commitment to the Bologna Process, whose objective is to create the European Higher Education Area by 2010, this year the University of Malta awarded the Diploma Supplement to over 200 graduates in the Bachelor of Engineering (Honours), Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Information Technology, Bachelor of European Studies, Bachelor of European Studies (Honours) and Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) courses.

The Diploma Supplement is issued according to a template that was developed by a Joint European Commission – Council of Europe – UNESCO working party that tested and refined it. It is one of the documents grouped under Europass framework, a European Commission initiative, which helps learners and workers to make their skills and qualifications clearly and easily understood in Europe (European Union, EFTA/EEA and candidate countries) and facilitates their mobility anywhere in Europe.

In particular, the Diploma Supplement aims to make the university award more readable and easily comparable locally and abroad as it gives a precise description of the academic course and of the competencies acquired during the study period. It aims to give a fair judgement of graduates’ achievements and competencies, to facilitate access to opportunities for work or further studies and lifelong learning locally and abroad, and to foster graduates’ employability across Europe.

The Diploma Supplement also provides better information to academic assessors, admissions officers, employers and citizens regarding the award, as it facilitates academic and professional recognition, thus increasing the transparency of qualifications. It protects national/institutional autonomy while offering a common frame that is accepted all over Europe. Moreover, it promotes informed and accurate judgements about qualifications that can be understood in another educational context, thereby facilitating the admissions process and the transfer of credits as it provides answers to many recurrent questions posed to administrative services in institutions about the content and portability of awards. It also enhances the visibility of the institution abroad and promotes the employability of graduates at national and international levels.