Frequently Asked Questions (The FAQ..)

Course General

Q:  How does the system of the Communications course work out?
The communications course is divided into two parts. The first part consists of the first two years of the course. In this part the student needs to fulfil a certain quota of credits in certain areas. You need 40 credits in Communications, 24 credits in the Communications Support areas and 52 credits in your Ordinary Main Area. You also need an extra 4 credits from whichever area of university you like. These 10 can be mix of credits from CCT, from the faculty responsible for your Ordinary Main area or even something not directly related to either of the two faculties, or even extra curricular credits (eg. sports or cultural related activities).

The second stage of the course depends on your performance in the first stage. If you get an average of:

-    70% in your Communications credits (Credits with codes CSTxxxx) and
-    60% overall (ie. ALL your credits),

you may continue to B.Communications (Hons), otherwise you can continue to achieve a B.Communications (general) degree. The former will lead you to an extra two years, while the latter will only take an extra year.

The overall mark is shown in eSIMS.  To find your Communications credits average mark, see the Credits section below

Q:  Communications Support?, Ordinary Main?... I’m getting confused here.
The Communications Support credits are a selection of fixed study units which is related to the communications degree (hence the term 'support'..). These study units will help you understand how communications fits in the bigger picture. Each study unit has a value of 6 ECTS credits.  They are:
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Sociology
- English or Maltese.
These are taken in the first and second years of study.  Any 2 units in the first year, and the remaining 2 units in the second year.  This applies to all B.Communications students.  The only exception is when your Ordinary Main area overlaps with any of the Communications Support units.  In this case, you can opt not to take the overlapping Communications Support unit, instead you can take other Communications units or units from any (but only one) area of your choice to make up for the missing 6 ECTS credits.

For example, if you are reading for a B.Communications with Psychology degree (with or without honours), you will only have to do the Philosophy, Sociology and Language (English or Maltese) credits.  While technically you can opt to do the Psychology-related unit, it does not make much sense as it is aimed at students without a Psychology background.  Instead, you can choose to take any unit or units in Communications subjects to make up for the missing 6 ECTS credits. Your third option is to request in writing to take the 6 ECTS credits in another area but only one area, for example Anthropology.

The Ordinary Main area is an area which you choose from a list of other courses (Psychology, Theatre Studies, European Studies, Informatics). A larger amount of credits will be followed in this area, and the number of credits here is only slightly less than the ones in Communications.  As in the example above, the Ordinary Main area is Psychology.
 

Credits

Q:  What is ECTS?
ECTS is an acronym for European Credit Transfer System. This means that a credit in the University of Malta is equally transferable with one credit in any European University. Think of it as a common currency of credits.

Q:  Credits... What are credits?
The idea of a credit is that each credit means a certain amount of work. If you say you have a credit in something, then you have a certain Idea of how much work was done on the subject. The European credit system is in favour of grouping credits to reduce the number of tests and to add congruency.

Q:  How do I calculate my average mark?
It really is very simple.  Go to http://home.um.edu.mt/registrar/misc/avgmark.pdf where it is all explained.  It is best to use a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel to calculate, since as Communications students you need to calculate 2 averages (see the Course General section).
 

University

Q:  I took note of all my lecture times, but how will I know where I have to go?
The first time a time-table is published, you will only find information about when the lecture will be held.  Once all timings are settled (and any clashes are ironed out), rooms will be allocated to each lecture.  This means that it will take a few weeks until you see the location listed on the time tables.

Q:  LC2, LT1, ELT, GWB Hall A... What are those?
Those are the locations.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it's really quite simple.  Most faculties have a 'Lecture Theatre' (LT), so ALT would be "Arts" + "Lecture Theatre", ELT is "Engineering" + "Lecture Theatre".  To confuse you just a little bit more, if you see just "LT1" or "LT2", these are the CCT Lecture Theatres, located near the CCT's own building.

Codes

Like any other large institution, University has its own codes and lingo.  Here are a few of them to get you started.  If you feel there should be more of these added, just e-mail us... we probably don't know them all ourselves

• ALT - Arts Lecture Theatre - Located in the Faculty of Arts
• CB - Computing Building
• CCT - Centre for Communications Technology - not so much about technology as much about Communications!  If you're reading for a B.Communications degree, this is your 'home-base'.
• CSC - Computing Services Centre - these are the ones responsible for anything with a mouse and a keyboard at University.  They run most computer labs spread around campus including the main one (which is also their HQ) near LT1/LT2, close to CCT.
• EB - Engineering Building - The Faculty of Engineering
• ELT - Engineering Lecture Theatre - Located in the Faculty of Engineering
• GWB - GateWay Building - first building right at the entrance to University (near Mater Dei hospital).
• LCxxx - This code is used for all rooms in the Lecture Centre (hence, LC), near the CSC.  The numbering is similar to a hotel room, with the first digit showing the floor, while the second and third digit showing the room number (eg. LC213 is room 13 on the second floor).  For convenience, the actual rooms are labelled with the full code.
• LTx - This code is used for the 2 Lecture Theatres situated between the CCT and the CSC.
• MI - Mediterranean Institute, which is located down the road (on the other side of the ring road) from the Lecture Centre
• MP - Maths & Physics building.  This is located near Computing Building, across the parking area from LC.
• OH - Old Humanities building.
• Quadrangle - This is the open square (which is not really a square, it's a quadrangle *sigh*) outside students' house (see below)
• Students' House - This is the building which houses the canteen, the KSU offices, a number of commercial outlets and student organisation offices.
• More to come...