With a steady growth in student and staff enrolments within a few years, and an ongoing expansion and refurbishings of its premises, Mcast is set to broaden its horizons even further with the professional leadership of its new principal, Maurice Grech.
Prof. Grech, the former dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Malta, officially began his new post last week. Armed with long years of experience as dean and an inventory of success stories, involving the faculty, its students, foreign universities and important stakeholders, Prof. Grech is set to carry on the same momentum at Mcast.
One of his major projects for the next academic year is that of developing the theoretical and practical aspects of the courses so as to offer students more holistic development. This will allow students to acquire more skills relevant to their line of work, and will be able to contribute more to the industry in which they will seek employment.
In order to encourage students to be more entrepreneurial and innovative and set their own business once they finish their course, lectures for students in the higher grades will include entrepreneurial and interpersonal skills, awareness of enterprise, finance, customer focus and communications.
On the other hand, courses at foundation level, which equip the students with basic qualifications to work, will also teach students intra-personal and psychological development, interpersonal skills, study and group skills, healthy living, and the meaning of voluntary work.
This development also stems out from partnerships as well as the close links Mcast has with several enterprises, such as the pharmaceutical industry, the financial services and airline industry as well as partnerships with FOI and Malta Enterprise, and the Institute of Financial Services from which it gathers feedback as to what the industry requires and mould its courses and support programmes accordingly.
Prof. Grech's previous experience led him to establish and lead "one of the best academic set-ups" which worked hand in hand with the industry.
"One of the achievements at the University has been the setting up of Surface Engineering (SE) Ltd, a company offering heat treatment and surface engineering to the industry. The company, which started off with a modest investment, attracted over Lm2 million in foreign funding, with which additional state-of-the-art equipment was purchased. The benefits included training for undergraduate and post-graduate students, research, service to the industry, as well as profit-making."
At Mcast, Prof. Grech is set to build even closer and stronger links with the industry: "Mcast can form partnerships, even joint ventures, with the industry, enabling it to offer a more holistic support, further its reputation as a strategic partner to the industry, and potentially even make financial gain. Through these partnerships we also hope to train our students to be more entrepreneurial mainly through good example and direct involvement."
Mcast already benefits from exchange programmes. The new principal is set to increase the opportunities as well as provide the staff with further training, both locally and abroad. In fact professional development programmes for staff are high on Prof. Grech's agenda.
The development in course structure and the ample opportunities for its students and staff augurs well for the college, which enjoys a steady growth in enrolments, currently topping 4,600 full-time and about 4,000 part-time and short course students. Yet the college also faces a challenging task ahead - that of continuously increasing the demand and avoiding saturation point.
Prof. Grech was optimistic: "Not if we act wisely and make the necessary capital and human investment. Mcast is planning a substantial investment in staff development and the government plans to make major investment in building a state-of-the-art college."
The new principal will focus on implementing targets set out in the Strategic Plan - increasing resources and facilities to be able to accommodate the expected increase in full-time and part-time students by the next academic year. The master plan aims at expanding the physical infrastructure to accommodate the growing number of students over the next 10 years.
Prof. Grech said the master plan presents major challenges as development work needs to be coordinated in such a way so as not to hinder the day-to-day operations and steady growth of the college in terms of student population and number of courses offered.
While paving the way for future extension of the premises, plans to launch the first undergraduate courses potentially in ICT, business and engineering are also under way. Yet, Mcast is not seeking to acquire the status of another university, Prof. Grech explained. In fact, there will not be any overlap in the courses on offer, he said.
"Malta already has a centuries-old university and does not need a second one. Mcast will provide an alternative route leading also to undergraduate degree courses. The role and functions that Mcast students play within our economy is different from that played by University students. Mcast equips students with hands-on skills paired with the appropriate academic knowledge, all designed according to the emerging needs of the industry."