A student with a terminal illness has completed his studies and graduated in a special ceremony held a few days ago, the University of Malta website reported.

A special graduation ceremony was held a few days ago at the private residence of the graduand, who successfully completed his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, the report said.

While he was a University student, Miguel Borg was diagnosed with a terminal illness. During a short but moving ceremony, the University Rector, Academic Registrar, and a number of academics called at Borg’s residence to award him the scroll, along with a printed copy of his dissertation.

Since the beginning of his journey as a student Borg had always dreamed of completing his degree, finalising his dissertation, and graduating. One of his most memorable University moments was when he was given the opportunity to go to the Formula SAE Competition (FSAE) in Silverstone as part of the UM racing team back in 2019. 

Dr Ing. Paul Refalo and Dr Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza, who worked very closely with Miguel whilst supervising his dissertation (‘A Pneumatic Data Monitoring System for Fault Detection’), both described him as a very determined, perseverant, resilient, and courageous student.

“He taught us in ways that we could never teach him”, said Dr Ing. Refalo. “It was his ambition to work on a sustainable engineering project for his final year dissertation, as he aspired to contribute towards a better environment and quality of life”. Miguel’s dissertation is a research piece used in the AIR SAVE project, which aims to develop, produce, and test a system which improves the sustainability of compressed air systems, and hence the competitiveness of manufacturing firms.