Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday laid the foundation stone of the €120 million new campus of the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology in Corradino, pointing out that none of it would be possible without EU membership.

“Today’s event is the fruit of crucial decisions taken by the government in the past few years and it is also sows the seed of a more promising future for Malta’s young people,” Dr Gonzi told assembled students, staff and guests.

Lauding Louis Galea, then Education Minister, for helping set up Mcast 10 years ago, he said the college benefited from €1 billion acquired thanks to EU accession.

Together with the government’s Vision 2015 and its constant investment in education and jobs, this facilitated making Mcast a success.

The event also featured a series of clips projected on a big screen showing Mcast students and staff talking about the options available to students and the diversity and sense of inclusion within the school.

Mcast was no longer a school for those who did not make it to the University, Dr Gonzi said, adding that it was a vocational school that was also becoming attractive to foreign students.

He said Mcast enabled Malta to remain attractive as an investment destination as shown in areas like aircraft maintenance and pharmaceuticals, which had grown over the past 10 years.

He noted that 8,800 young people had graduated from Mcast in the past four years and most had found a job.

The new campus will provide for about 10,000 full-time students compared to today’s 6,000, as well as thousands of part-timers.

Work on the new campus started last year. The first phase will consist of three blocks that will be built in the next two years. These will house Students House, the Institute of Applied Science and the new Institute for Business.

The project will eventually have 17 blocks, bringing all the Mcast institutes together on one campus.