(Adds EIE statement)
Draft legislation on further and higher education was being prepared by the Education Ministry.
This would include legislation to fully regulate private provision by creating the structures to license, accredit and quality assure further and higher education.
In a statement, the ministry said that the consultation process to enact such legislation showed sthis was a sector which required particular and careful action in line with international and European developments.
It said that the Malta Qualifications Council’s Report on the Qualifications Framework received excellent reviews and Malta, together with Ireland, remained the only country to present such a report to the other EU member states. It was also among the very few countries in the EU with its own national qualifications framework.
Deploring allegations in the media that Malta’s educational authorities were allowing academic fraud to spread, the ministry said that these sowed seeds of doubt in the minds of people on the quality and standards in the provision of higher education programmes.
Unfounded allegations, it said, were being levelled at it by the Labour spokesman on Education Evarist Bartolo when writing in the papers about service provider EIE.
“The educational authorities are fully aware of their obligations at law and are, at all times, committed to fulfill these obligations.
“In recent years there has been a tangible effort to upgrade standards and to ensure that all qualifications receive adequate recognition and monitoring.
“All possible actions are being taken to guarantee quality education at all levels of our system of education,” the ministry said.
The setting up of institutions such as the National Commission for Higher Education, the Directorate for Standards and Quality in Education, the Directorate for Lifelong Learning and the Malta Qualifications Council were all indicators of the seriousness by which government is regulating all sectors of our education, it said.
The ministry added that the Directorate for Quality Assurance was currently reviewing all licences that issued in the non-state sector and in the private provision of higher education with a view to ensuring that quality education was afforded to all.
It was in the interest of students who sought the services of private institutions to check and verify on the value and recognition of the universities offering the courses and the degrees they offer.
Anyone wishing to obtain information on a qualification offered in Malta by private and public entities on behalf of foreign higher education institutions should first and foremost verify the value and recognition of the course with MQRIC. Public and private educational institutions were also encouraged to check with MQRIC the recognition of qualifications before embarking on the provision of such an important service.
This year, more than 3,629 individual qualifications were submitted for verification by MQRIC, which is situated within the Malta Qualifications Council in St Lucia.
Submissions for the recognition of prospective qualifications are received on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during office hours.
Applications for the recognition of prospective qualifications can be downloaded from the MQC website http://www.mqc.gov.mt/ . MQRIC officers may be contacted on 2180 1411, 2180 1890 or 2754 0051 Monday to Friday.
EIE STATEMENT
EIE said in a statement it was associated with the some of the finest names in education, and in partnership with these established foreign universities, offered academic degree programmes that were recognised by MQRIC.
It said that contrary to allegations, it had never "taken any students for a ride".
“We have always valued our students, so much so that we always go to great lengths to help them by whatever means we feel necessary.”
It said it retained the right to take further legal action against people who attempted to damage the excellent local and international reputation enjoyed by the institute, built for a decade through the hard work and dedication of several people.