Executive Diploma in Advanced Research / PhD: Thrive from Swieqi, Malta
Build your research ambitions without leaving Swieqi. Offered online in an exclusive partnership between the University of Gloucestershire and Robert Kennedy College, the Executive Diploma in Advanced Research / PhD brings advanced academic study into your life, wherever your work and commitments take you. Its research approaches can help you investigate questions with relevance far beyond any one location.
Work towards a British qualification with international relevance
Studying through a British university gives your academic work a foundation that is recognised internationally. It can be a valuable way to demonstrate research capability to colleagues, collaborators and organisations across borders.
The executive diploma and the PhD are distinct qualifications: completing the diploma does not itself confer a doctoral degree. Students who progress to and successfully complete the PhD may earn a British doctoral degree, subject to the programme’s requirements.
Make meaningful progress online in as little as 3–6 months
The Executive Diploma in Advanced Research can be completed 100% online in as little as 3–6 months. That focused timescale offers an opportunity to develop advanced research skills while continuing to live and work in Swieqi.
The PhD is a separate, longer research commitment, with a timescale determined by its requirements and your progress. Beginning with the executive diploma can help you take a purposeful first step towards a larger academic ambition.
Study without fixed online attendance times
Your day need not revolve around a scheduled online class. With no requirement to be online at specific times and dates, you can engage with your studies when your schedule allows.
That flexibility is especially valuable when professional responsibilities, family life or travel make regular live sessions difficult. You can plan your study time around the other important parts of your life.
Take your studies wherever you go
Online learning lets you study from Swieqi, elsewhere in Malta or another part of the world. A change of location does not have to mean putting your academic goals on hold.
While travelling, you can use the mobile app to download study materials and watch lectures offline. Whether you have a quiet hour at home or time in transit, your learning can move with you.
Show what you can do through open-book assessments
Open-book assessments offer an alternative to classical question-and-answer exams. Rather than relying solely on recall, you can draw on learning materials as you develop a considered response.
For an aspiring researcher, this approach supports the habit of examining evidence and communicating ideas clearly. It gives you room to demonstrate how you apply what you have learned.
Learn from faculty with distinguished academic backgrounds
Tutors and faculty include graduates of world-renowned institutions such as Oxford, Harvard, EPFL, the University of Basel and Washington University in St. Louis. Their varied academic backgrounds bring different perspectives to your learning experience.
Engaging with those perspectives can help you refine your questions, challenge assumptions and strengthen your approach to research. It is an opportunity to grow as a more confident, thoughtful scholar.
Join a truly international learning community
With students from more than 130 countries, the learning community brings together people whose experiences span industries, cultures and continents. Those connections can broaden the way you think about a research problem and its potential applications.
Alumni work for international organisations and companies including the United Nations, Google, ICRC, The World Bank, Microsoft, Intel, Samsung, Tencent, Siemens and Sony. Their careers illustrate the breadth of professional settings represented in the wider community.
Spread the cost over up to 18 interest-free monthly instalments
The programme’s fees can be paid in up to 18 monthly interest-free instalments. Spreading payments can make it easier to plan your study alongside your other commitments.
With a clear monthly payment schedule, you can focus your attention on learning and research. Review the applicable payment details as you decide which study path is right for you.
Research ambitions shaped by life in Swieqi
Living in Swieqi places you close to Malta’s busy professional centres, including St Julian’s and Sliema. If you work in or alongside Malta’s digital business, iGaming or financial-services sectors, advanced research skills can help you frame questions about technology, organisational change, customer behaviour or regulation with greater rigour.
The surrounding area also offers connections to tourism, hospitality and other service businesses. Graduates can apply a stronger research mindset to challenges such as service quality, workforce development and changing visitor expectations—turning practical questions into opportunities for evidence-informed insight.
Swieqi can remain your home base while your research outlook becomes international. Whether your interests lie in business, education, healthcare or another field, the ability to evaluate evidence and communicate findings can support conversations with collaborators in Malta and abroad.
Ready to explore what your next step could look like? Request our course catalogue and discover how online study can fit your ambitions in Swieqi, Malta.