Malta's services sectors have expanded significantly and MCAST's Institute of Community Services is responding by introducing new courses and providing demand-led solutions for the various services sectors.
The applied science course has been specifically designed for the continuously expanding pharmaceutical sector and such is the academic quality that several successful candidates have taken up degree programmes overseas. The Employment and Training Corporation administers this apprenticeship programme which has been an outstanding success story for both students and employers.
The institute's child care programme and dental surgeon assistant course have been modified and tailored to meet local requirements within a European context while retaining its broader international recognition.
The institute offers an exciting and dynamic environment to study, learn and to gain valuable knowledge and skills valued by employers. The institute's best advert is its past and present students and the numerous employers it works with or who have recruited its students.
All the institute's courses are vocational; this means they focus on the acquisition and application of knowledge, competences and skills required by the respective industry sector. Such skills and knowledge are gained in a real work environment or a realistic work-place setting. Many of the courses have work placements built into the programme to ensure that when students graduate from the institute they will be well prepared for the world of work.
The institute has strong links with employers and this is important for a number of reasons. It is important that we inform each other in the best interest of our students and to ensure that we have one common aim to make Malta and Gozo the best places where to live and work.
Whatever course students follow or whichever sector the institute works with, the institute's most important considerations are that the education and training is holistic and relevant to the economy. While the institute strives to provide the most valuable experience for our students and to give them the best possible start in life, employers provide the valuable work placements that distinctively define vocational education and training, and our strong links will ensure that students are provided with the most fruitful opportunities.
Vocational also means that the academic content required to support the respective skills are also embedded in the programme. All the courses have progression paths and are internationally recognised. The institute boasts outstanding external verification reports from international awarding bodies that it works with. This is important as it provides student and parents with the confidence that the institute's courses are considered as excellent and of a high quality. The institute has settled very well into the new state-of-the-art premises and facilities within the MCAST main Corradino campus. This academic year it has more than 600 students studying a range of courses at various levels. There has never been a more exciting time to study at this institute with its excellent recourses, lecturing staff and its diverse, creative and vibrant student population.
Well-rounded persons with soft skills are what employers are looking for and MCAST takes the holistic development of its students very seriously. We strive to ensure that all students have an enriched experience at the institute and it is for this reason that we engage all students in the institute's annual activities. These provide students opportunities to extend themselves and often demonstrate the many varied skills they have acquired or to try something different.
The institute has been encouraged by parents who, over the years, have praised the College's staff for providing such opportunities. Participation in such activities is often challenging, fun as well as character forming.
The demanding activities help students to plan and develop skills to work in a team. Students often say how their self-confidence was boosted by participating in the annual soirée or the annual hair and beauty marathon, the next edition of which is to be held next weekend.