One way of defining MCAST’s achievements over these last few years is by referring to the new law that parliament approved earlier this month. MCAST has truly got its act together in order to achieve higher levels of excellence and deal with the future of learning and working more effectively.

The new law has been the high point of a string of success stories the college has registered since its inception in 2000. Successive governments have sought to invest in its infrastructure, in its human resource capacity and in its international dimension as a college open to all nationalities.

Twenty-three years down the line, the total full- and part-time student population is almost 11,000, of whom 23 per cent (June 2023) are international students from 106 different countries and there are over 1,500 employees. Growth has indeed been impressive.

The 2022 NAO and ombudsman reports show that, over these last couple of years, the college has come a long way to become a highly transparent and efficient institution. In fact, MCAST’s strategic plan 2022-2027 has set as a key target the objective of becoming a community college. In 2022, students at MCAST offered more than 55,000 hours of voluntary work through the Community Service Responsibility (CSR) programme.

It is in this spirit of openness and service to the community as well as the increased confidence in its policies and structures that my ministry has sought to support the college through this new law. The new legislation gives MCAST greater autonomy, more responsibilities as well as resources to continue to provide our nation with the skills it needs for today’s and the future workforce.

The new law is also testimony to the hard work that has gone into its drafting, consultation with the widest possible stakeholders and the vision to give the college an instrument that will sustain its future on levels of excellence.

MCAST is the first further and higher education institution in Malta to have its own legislation independently from the Education Act. MCAST’s profile is eclectic in nature. The institution is at once a school, a college and a higher education institution.

The law has strengthened the governing board by including key players such as students and staff members in it; it has widened its remit to include the role played by industry and the duty towards the community and has widened its commitment towards quality and standards that provide the right skills for the jobs of today and those of tomorrow.

In addition, the law has also sought to give clinical responsibilities to the vocational and professional council, the administrative council, the boards of studies as well as the executive management team meetings. All these structures safeguard the college’s operations and its collegial manner in how it works. It also ensures that industry and sectoral employers are involved at all stages of the development of curricula, assessment procedures as well as all work-based learning experiences for students.

The autonomy of each of the statutory instruments are backed by specific objectives in the best interest of students, staff members as well as the community at large. This includes employers, trade unions and non-governmental bodies addressing the needs of a very wide spectrum of our population from youth to old age.

Emphasis is on education and training provision that equips people with the right skills in an age of increased artificial intelligence and new work-place practices.

MCAST’s student population is almost 11,000, of whom 23% are international students from 106 countries- Clifton Grima

MCAST is the only institution in Malta that offers qualifications at all levels of our National Qualifications Framework, from the lowest to a first professional doctoral programme. This legislation backs this mammoth task through provisions that cater for greater flexibility, more platforms for consultation and a decision-making process that engages as many stakeholders as possible.

Employers and experts in the world of employment are practically in every statutory committee of the college. It is the government’s decision backed by recent positive experiences of the college that the relationship between education and training and industry should be at a statutory level and enshrined in this new law.

Education today cannot be relevant unless it is applied to real workplace contexts. Increasing work experience during their years at MCAST is now at the heart of the formation of students enrolled at the college.

It is important to underline that the main objective of the college is to “enable students to reach their potential”. This is perhaps the most challenging mission of MCAST. With its doors open to all learners and at all levels, the college must have a diversified approach to learning, based on a learner-centred approach in all aspects from marketing of courses to career counselling to lecturing, assessment and experiences in work places. MCAST’s mission, however, cannot be accomplished without the tangible support of employers.

The new law stresses the importance of a learner-centred approach. In fact, article 6(1) obliges the college “to ensure that education is accessible and available to all students, without discrimination, and to develop VPET curricula and establish vocational education, facilities and programmes of education and training and of work and practical experience which the college may deem necessary to provide all with the opportunity to qualify in the vocational sectors taking into account the socio-economic situation in Malta”.

Every student enrolled at MCAST is entitled to a qualification that provides skills for employment and personal enrichment. Statistically speaking, over these last two years, circa 20 per cent of students who obtained a bachelor’s degree at the college were previously qualified at the college at levels inferior to the traditional entry point of Level 4 on the qualifications framework. This is one of the highest accomplishments of MCAST; students whose potential shone as a result of MCAST’s learning environments and flexibility.

The new law also strengthens the college’s organisation to provide more opportunities to students in the post-secondary sector and become lifelong learners. With the highest percentage (36.4%) of students at MCAST at the technician level (L4) and lower (25%), the college’s crucial mission is to re-direct individuals finishing compulsory education to a new learning pattern that fits their capability, their mode of learning, their mind set and their willingness to learn by doing.

This is one of the reasons why MCAST is rapidly becoming a first choice for so many hundreds of students. This is also why the government sought to revisit the original legislation establishing MCAST and reinforce the college on stronger legal ground for it to develop and be more relevant to the nation’s socio-economic needs.

Clifton Grima

It is to the government’s vision and credit and to the valuable input from the opposition that MCAST has now been given the legal tools to become a leader in further and higher education in Malta and in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Clifton Grima is Minister for Education, Sport, Research and Innovation.