Professor Ronald Sultana in memoriam

November brought us sudden news that were beyond sad: the esteemed professor and our colleague Ronald Sultana, from the University of Malta, passed away on 24th November 2023 at the age of 65. He was an eminent specialist in the sociology of guidance and counselling and in educational issues. In 1988, he founded the humanist education movement. He received numerous awards from the guidance community worldwide for his important contribution and commitment to the scientific community.  He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Laval University in Quebec. Founder of the Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies. Ronald Sultana was a leading figure at the University of Malta, where he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Education in 1997 and then Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research.

Influenced by the analyses of Pierre Bourdieu, Ronald Sultana examined the contribution of interventions to support career decision-making to the reproduction of economic and social inequalities and their increase in recent times. He was also sensitive to the Mediterranean origins of Western civilisation (Greco-Latin culture, Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions) and aware of the terrible crisis of the Anthropocene that it has engendered, and sought to find ways of contributing to its resolution. 

Ronald Sultana was involved in many networks in the guidance field and recently published two landmark volumes, with Rie Thomsen and Tristam Hooley, entitled Career Guidance for Emancipation: Contesting Neoliberalism (2018) and Career Guidance for Social Justice: Reclaiming Social Justice for the Multitude (2019), published by Routledge. Ronald leaves an intellectual legacy that should enable many of today’s and tomorrow’s researchers to continue his humanist vision of guidance and counselling.

University of Malta is a member of our network and we all share your grief and loss, and hope to work ahead and learn from his work.