Qala, Gozo, 12 May 2017 -- Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding last year, the Institute of Tourism Studies of Malta (ITS) and the Divers Alert Network (DAN) Europe have now signed an agreement that officially launched the International School of Diving Safety & Medicine (ISDSM).

The agreement was signed during an event held at the ITS Campus in Qala, Gozo, which will also serve as a base for the new School, in the presence of Dr Christian Zammit (Chief of Staff, Ministry for Gozo).

The ISDSM will be coordinated by DAN Europe under the umbrella of the ITS, and will focus on diving safety, sustainability and professional management of diving activities. The brand new Academic Program, leading to a Bachelor Degree in the Management of Diving Tourism, will provide diving professionals and businesses with unprecedented competence and career opportunities. The School will also offer diving safety and medicine training programs to divers, diving operations and medical professionals amongst others.

The ISDSM outreach will be international, aiming at making Malta a global excellence hub for diving safety and diving industry sustainability. A pilot course will already be held in June 2017, a Summer School program is planned for July 2017, while it will also be offering an ambitious, internationally unique and unprecedented academic program leading to a Degree in the science of Diving Tourism Management. The latter will be launched in the next Academic Year 2017-18.

The School already counts on a prestigious international Faculty, comprising of experts coming from known international Institutions, including European Committee for Hyperbaric Medicine (ECHM), European College of Baromedicine (ECB), Galatasaray University, Polytechnic University of Marche, Stellenbosch University, North-West University, in addition to PADI Worldwide, International DAN and PDSA (Professional Diving School Association) Malta.

"This collaboration will serve to attract divers and the global diving industry to Malta & Gozo and their waters, not only to explore our submerged attractions and treasures, but also for the opportunity to find the best training location for the safe and effective implementation of diving activities for recreation and tourism, science, technology and industrial scopes”, stated the Minister for Tourism.

The collaboration seeks to make Malta and Gozo a destination for those who wish to maximize their education and skills for the best, more efficient, safer, customer-friendly recreational diving centre management.

Info: isdsm.edu.mt

About DAN Europe
DAN Europe is an international non-profit medical and research organisation dedicated to the health and safety of divers. For more information about DAN's research and diver safety projects, visit www.daneurope.org

Press Contact
Cristian Pellegrini
cpellegrini@daneurope.org