I write in reference to the article “University launches MA in Maltese studies” (TMID, 24 June).

Now that’s what we call a positive/proactive development. Noteworthy is the inclusion of “emigration and migrant settlement”.

Hopefully, this inclusion will be centred round the history of migration and what migration has meant for Malta and the Maltese who “stayed put”; as well as the retention or loss of language over successive generations, and the socio-political forces behind it.

My wild guess is that very few young Maltese would know anything about it, unless their families see relatives returning ever so often, or occasionally, on holidays.

Least of all, how much migrants have contributed to both Malta and their country of adoption.

Some of us were blessed earlier on in life, in that our families had ancestors who were born in North Africa in the days of earlier migration.

So family discussions were, occasionally, centred around what went on in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

My dear friends Lawrence Dimech and Mark Caruana should be pleased.

Lucy Calleja

Sydney

Australia