With reference to the article ‘Tourism institute fails EU quality assurance audit…badly’ (April 5), the National Commission for Further and HigherEducation would like to make some clarifications.

The article makes reference to an ‘EU quality assurance audit’. It is important to note that the audit being referred to is an external quality assurance audit as stipulated by subsidiary legislation 327.433 – Further and Higher Education (Licensing, Accreditation and Quality Assurance) Regulations.

The same subsidiary legislation places responsibility on the NCFHE to carry out periodic external quality assurance auditing of all accredited further and higher education institutions and self-accrediting institutions. This audit was partially financed through an ESF-funded project 1.227 ‘Making Quality Visible’.

The NCFHE would also like to clarify that the panel consisted of external international experts within the field of qualityassurance, NCFHE experts and students attending a different institution from the one being audited. The presence of external international experts andthe unanimous approach ofthe panel ensured that theinvestigations were made inan objective and fair manner,in line with national and European parameters.

All external quality assurance audits carried out by the NCFHE, including the audit carried out at the Institute of Tourism Studies, are available online on www.ncfhe.gov.mt.