Buoyed by the success achieved after just two years in Malta, Middlesex University is planning to expand its presence here by rolling out more courses and increasing its student population.

The vice-chancellor, Tim Blackman, was in Malta last Friday for the university’s first-ever graduation ceremony since opening its Pembroke campus in 2013. Just three out of the 65 graduates were not Maltese.

Middlesex University’s vicechancellor, Prof. Tim Blackman.

At the moment, the university is offering four undergraduate and two post-graduate programmes but will be adding more courses next year.

“We are not looking for a massive expansion of thousands of students, as our foremost priority is quality. I would say our plan is to increase our intake by several hundreds,” Prof. Blackman said.

In preparation for this step, the university is investing in more interactive teaching aids and better video-conferencing facilities for closer collaboration with its central campus in London.

At present there are about 200 students taking the various courses being offered by the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Business School.

Prof. Blackman heaped praise on the academic level of Maltese students. He pointed out that the proportion of first-class honours degrees obtained in Malta was double that in London.

“But why do Maltese students decide to pay from their pocket to follow these courses when they have the option of studying for free at the University of Malta?” this newspaper asked.

Prof. Blackman was quick to point out that Maltese students were nowadays able to afford the tuition fees thanks to government scholarships.

“A major attraction is that we offer a British degree, and we strive to ensure that the curricular standard is the same as in London,” he said.

We are not looking for a massive expansion of thousands of students, as our foremost priority is quality

All the courses offered from the Pembroke campus were scrutinised through high-level quality assurance procedures. Feedback was also sought from other universities to ensure parity of standards, he said.

“Once the programme is under way, there are regular reviews, student-satisfaction surveys and every number of years we are inspected by the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.”

In addition, students’ projects are also vetted by external examiners from other universities.

“This is part of the hallmark of British quality in tertiary education,” Middlesex University associate director Lesley Marks said.

She stressed that their presence here was not meant to compete but complement the University of Malta or any other future tertiary institution like the American University of Malta.

“All the competition in the world is welcome,” she said.

In the UK, Middlesex University has a student population of 24,000 but is also present in Mauritius, Dubai and most recently in Malta.

Malta’s thriving financial services sector and the government’s drive in favour of the IT industry were the major reasons it decided to venture here.

Two years down the line, 95 per cent of its students were able to find a job straight after completing their studies.

“The content we are offering is in synergy with the Maltese economy. We are interested to grow in those areas which provide graduates with direct routes to employment” Ms Marks said.

Commenting on their experience so far, Prof. Blackman remarked that Malta was very particular, as most of the teaching staff were not full-time academics but actively involved in industry.

“In this respect, this is quite a unique situation and in London we can learn a lot from this model, as it gives a more hands-on approach to teaching.”

During their studies students are expected to give presentations, liaise with employers and bring the solutions back to the classroom. In March they will be competing for the best robot made from scrap material they gather from a landfill.

Some of the devices constructed by Middlesex undergraduate students last year were showcased on the highly popular television series Gadgets.

As for the future, apart from further expansion, the university aims to attract more foreign students.

“We would like more students from our London campus to come over and maybe spend a year in Malta: it would widen their perspective and contribute to a more cosmopolitan mix,” Prof. Blackman said.