Quality assured

Barely four years in the making, the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology was recently given the Edexcel International Award for Excellence. Marika Azzopardi spoke to the heads of both institutions.

It is not normal for an institution to receive such a prestigious award barely four years after being set up but it only goes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the MCAST organisation as a whole, said Edexcel chairman Martin Cross.

"While some of the MCAST institutes were already set up, many others had to start operating from scratch. This provided an overall healthy and fruitful educational experience."

Asked just how MCAST could bridge the very tangible gap between the academically inclined and the vocational student, Mr Cross pointed out that there were key things to look out for in the future, namely flexibility and common skills such as numeracy, problem solving and communications skills.

"The academic realm does not always provide these educational tools and this is costing several youths the chance of getting a good job. The real issue is to address the so many students who do not want to continue training beyond the age of 16. As I see it, Edexcel may help the college to infiltrate the 14-16 age bracket and eventually to produce a more cohesive 14-19 programme."

Of all the 6,000 worldwide centres delivering Edexcel qualifications only five others are, like Malta, considered as elite international centres of excellence. These are situated in Malaysia, Bahrain and Pakistan.

"In all cases, Edexcel criteria have been amply fulfilled, providing high quality assurance ratings, best practice, continuing investment, originality and innovation. These supreme qualities are assured through frequent regional development managers' visits and through feedback provided by external verifiers who carry out quality checks and give advice on possible improvements.

"I am particularly impressed by the range of contacts the college has made with the main stakeholders - various representatives of industry and commerce, whether by sector or employment status. This is important in two distinct ways - it ensures the college remains in touch with the employment sector and hence its recruitment requirements. The college is thus better armed to supply what the employers want and need and that is tantamount to quality."

Victor Scicluna, president of the MCAST board of governors, is visibly satisfied with the award. "Quite honestly I was pleasantly surprised. Four years is a very short time in any educational set-up and when one considers how we had to start the project from scratch, the award gains even more significance."

MCAST was set up as a "new" idea in a sphere which considered vocational education as the cinderella of education. "We wanted to create an ambience to suit tertiary education and ensure that the college would be open to students from various levels, from level four to even the unqualified youths coming out of secondary school."

Mr Scicluna is aware that he was chosen as president of MCAST with a purpose. "It was a conscious choice. As most people know, my background is not in education but in industry. This has given me the mentality to work out what 'the real world outside' is all about. Vocational education has thus provided the bridge to create a metamorphosis from student to worker employable throughout life."

MCAST kicked off with a little less than 1,000 students. At present the institute boasts 3,800 full-time/apprenticeship students and 4,000 part-time course students.

The decision to go for Edexcel courses was taken when the board of directors was first set up. "We wanted to avoid having to reinvent the wheel and we wanted a course which would have immediate recognition. The qualifications offered by MCAST instil confidence in the employers and since they are externally verified, standards are being continually benchmarked."

All nine MCAST institutes are in direct contact with the relative industry apart from various corporate contacts. However, Mr Scicluna laments there is still not enough awareness from all strata of employers and as always, funding remains a problem. "Although we cannot really grumble as government funds are available, financial resources are always a limiting factor and moving on is not always easy.

"We are exploring links with foreign institutions namely in the UK and Germany. Our target is to look at this college as a centre of excellence in the Mediterranean as a regional college. While our first priority is to reach Malta's needs first, we are fully aware that there does exist the possibility of targeting North Africa and southern Europe in the very near future."

Edexcel - A profile

Edexcel is the largest awarding body in the UK, according to its website. It develops a diverse range of academic and vocational qualifications, prepares course specifications, assesses, examines and provides quality control of qualifications and certifies achievement.

In the UK, Edexcel qualifications are offered by over 4,200 secondary schools, 450 further education colleges, more than 80 higher education institutions, 800 public and private sector employers and, increasingly, e-learning providers.

Internationally, Edexcel operates in 112 countries worldwide.

It has been providing "Qualifications for Work" for nearly 30 years, including A levels, GCSEs and GNVQs.