Mcast reconfirmed as a centre of excellence

Edexcel, the UK’s largest awarding body, has reconfirmed the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology as an International Centre of Excellence.

Mcast was the first educational institution in Europe to receive this award in 2005. Seven years later, in reconfirming this award, Edexcel explained that “this renewal is testament to the continuing high standards of quality that Mcast has maintained throughout the past years, while providing a wide range of courses to many students”.

Edexcel offers internationally-recognised vocational and academic qualifications and testing in the UK and internationally.

It forms part of Pearson, the world’s leading education organisation, which also includes The Financial Times Group and Penguin Group.

Mcast and Edexcel collaborate to offer courses that allow Maltese students to obtain the renowned Btec vocational qualifications.

Outgoing Mcast principal and CEO Maurice Grech said the col­lege’s reconfirmation as an International Centre of Excellence comes at a crucial stage when Mcast is em­barking on a number of long-term projects aimed at upgrading the quality of all its courses and services.

Through the support of three EU-funded projects, in the next three years Mcast will invest over €20 million to re­design and update its current programmes, to provide ongoing train­ing for staff, to de­velop new teaching metho­dologies, materials and technologies, and to launch new cour­ses that prepare young students and adult workers for jobs in emerging sectors.

“This investment will make learning a more enjoyable experience, and encourage more students to remain in education and continue their studies at higher levels,” said Prof. Grech. “We aim to offer new training opportunities to help more students get the qualifications and experience to secure better jobs.”