Youth work has been recognised as a profession following the promulgation of the Youth Work Profession Act in 2015. Former and present academic members of staff at the University of Malta's Department of Youth and Community Studies played an important part in making this possible. The department seeks to be the research arm and provider of training for current and future youth workers, besides envisaging greater development in non-formal and informal education.

The Department of Youth and Community Studies offers two degree courses that are pre-requisite for a career in youth work. One course is the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Youth and Community Studies, now to be offered as a day course as from October.  The department also offers a postgraduate degree programme, the Master in Youth and Community Studies, on a part-time evening basis, spread over three years.

Both courses provide multi-disciplinary perspectives with study-units focusing on psychological, sociological and philosophical dimensions of youth and others that cover areas such as law, addiction, social minorities and youth policy. Both courses comprise practical components - notably the fieldwork placement - in addition to the theoretical component. These are designed in such a way so that students can have better hands-on experience. The fieldwork takes place at youth centres and other places frequented by young people and each student is assigned two supervisors.

The department is planning to launch the Master of Arts in Youth Justice in the near future. This course will also be offered on a part-time evening basis and will be mostly research-based. The aim of the course is to provide deeper knowledge of the concept of social justice and young people.

The Department of Youth and Community Studies also hosts people interested in conducting doctoral dissertations, on youth work and young people.

A course description of the B.A. (Hons) in Youth and Community Studies degree programme may be found at http://www.um.edu.mt/bayouth. Applications are received at: http://www.um.edu.mt/apply. Deadline for applications is 21 July.

For more information one may contact Dr Andrew Azzopardi (head of Department) via email on [email protected] or contact the Department's administrative staff on 2340 3192 or 2340 3359.