High standard courses ensured at Mcast

I refer to the article that entitled The Secret Of Mcast's Success: Hands-On Practice, Fewer Exams (July 28). The good coverage often given by The Times to MCAST's activities and initiatives is appreciated on this and other occasions.

The title of the article may not give a clear idea of Mcast's continuous assessment system and the related procedures. Most of Mcast's qualifications contain a substantial vocational practice element where students are assessed continuously on the practical competencies in the workshops and laboratories in which Mcast has invested heavily over the last few years.

However, the qualifications' theoretical and underpinning knowledge form an integral part of each qualification and is examined alongside the practical element on an ongoing basis. Many of the qualifications on offer are competence-based where students have to demonstrate that they have learnt the skills and competencies to be able to perform efficiently and effectively and with the least supervision in the chosen field of study.

The competences are assessed on a regular basis throughout the year and a system of both internal and external verification is adopted in order to validate the assessment of each candidate. The internal verification process guarantees that the assignment and its learning outcomes reflect the specificities of the particular programme and that the marks awarded by the assessors are also related to the stipulated learning outcomes.

In the majority of the courses the external verification is done by foreign examiners who visit the college every year and for particular programmes, even twice a year. Mcast has been recognised as a college of very high standards to merit the Edexcel International Centre of Excellence Award and is often quoted overseas as a centre of good practice.

All the higher level qualifications from the National Diploma, the Higher National Diploma and now the Vocational Degree programmes include a project that involves original research and the standard is very often highly commendable. A cross section of these projects are exhibited every year and they are received well by both the public and the experts in the field.

The level of the students is high and UK universities admit them to the third year of their degree programmes without asking for further requirements. Mcast was established in 2001 and, yet, in spite of its short history, some of its students have gone on to take up studies at Masters level.

Hence, it is quite clear that the evaluation of the students' work through continuous assessment and examinations as appropriate ensure that courses are delivered and received at a high standard.