Students at the Mcast Institute for Creative Arts in Mosta are complaining of overcrowding, lectures dragging on until 6.30pm and the timetable being revised twice in two weeks.

Speaking to the Times of Malta, they said the infrastructure was no longer adequate to accommodate the influx of students and the new courses being rolled out.

Media students said they had to share the studio with students from the new performative arts course and some lecturers had to work overtime to handle the demand.

“It’s impossible to introduce new courses or accept more students than the complement the courses were designed for without creating more space in the school,” one student said.

It’s impossible to introduce new courses or accept more students than the complement the courses were designed for without creating more space in the school

Another called for more planning, including expanding the school or transferring to Paola some of the students who did not need to use the Mosta facilities.

Mcast principal and CEO Stephen Cachia said that 118 students were accepted upon the second call, bringing the total student population up to 837. Last year, the total number of students at the start of the year was 825.

"This clearly shows that there has not been any massive increase in the population," he said. 

Official hours for lectures across all Mcast institutes are from 8am to 8pm, as agreed with the Malta Union of Teachers.

Lecturers working after 4.30pm are paid extra.

Mcast worked hard to ensure that facilities for new courses were provided, Mr Cachia said. For the new performing arts course, Mcast rented premises outside the Mosta building following a public call for quotations.

“This means that performing arts students will have their own performing space and there will be no need to use any present spaces in the present institute,” Mr Cachia said.

Students will be able to make use of this space in the coming days. “It is to the credit of the excellent work being done by the institute management and its lecturing staff that the Institute for the Creative Arts is becoming more popular,” he continued.

Mcast has already started work to prepare a master plan design for the refurbishment and expansion of the Mosta premises. A consultation and discussion process with staff has already taken place and the institute has put forward its proposals in this regard.

These have been taken on board and will be incorporated in the Mcast new campus project that will continue to be implemented over the coming years.