Malta’s regulator for accrediting higher educational institutions, including universities, has failed twice in its application to join the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR).
The application even failed the appeals process, which means it failed to meet European standards – information that was not disclosed by the Education Ministry, led by Minister Clifton Grima.
EQAR’s damning report was based on a comprehensive review of the operations of the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority (MFHEA).
It concluded that Malta’s regulatory body did not adhere to the highest standards for European educational accreditation.
The report highlighted several issues, including a lack of transparency, excessive dependence on government intervention, and inadequate checks and balances before accrediting higher education institutions.
Additionally, the report indicated that the MFHEA failed to properly follow up on the conditions at institutions after they had been granted accreditation.
The review also revealed that, rather than employing external experts to evaluate whether applicants for higher education programmes and institutions met the necessary criteria for accreditation, MFHEA officials relied solely on desktop reviews, which left much to be desired.
“The Committee noted the panel’s concerns on a number of shortcomings related to the programme and provider accreditation procedures, such as short application forms instead of self-evaluation reports for some procedures, no site visits and lack of consistent follow-up,” the report noted.
The European review criticised the management of the MFHEA, highlighting a clear lack of independence from government:
“The Register Committee expressed concerns that the agency’s organisational independence is limited due to its strong ties and dependency on the government. This issue is exacerbated by the small size of the higher education system.”
Additionally, the review pointed out that all members of the regulator’s board are appointed by either the Prime Minister or the Education Minister.
Furthermore, there was no distinction between the Quality Assurance Committee and the board, rendering the situation unacceptable according to European standards.
The Shift has learned that EQAR’s rejection surprised the Maltese regulator. The application was submitted and pushed by CEO Rose Anne Cuschieri, who has been spending public funds to acquire positive reviews in magazines despite her poor performance.
She has not answered questions from The Shift, including whether she intended to take responsibility for the embarrassment faced by Malta’s accreditation regulator.
The MFHEA is chaired by lawyer Edward Woods, who the government appointed in February 2023.

The Shift understands that certain controversial decisions made by the MFHEA in recent years may have harmed its reputation internationally.
Among these decisions was the American University of Malta (AUM) accreditation, which has been criticised for lacking a credible educational background.
Additionally, there was the recent controversial issue of a temporary licence to the International European University (IEU), a Ukrainian institution based in Gzira. The MFHEA received numerous complaints from students alleging that the IEU was a scam, but it chose to renew the university’s licence.
Tags
#AUM
#Education Minister Clifton Grima
#Edward Woods
#embarassment
#ENQA
#MFHEA
#Rose Anne Cuschieri
#Ukrainian University
This is a failure of catastrophic proportions. Without exception the country?s entities are being run by nincompoops whose sole qualification is allegiance to the criminal regime.
Another debacle for the Opposition spokesperson Justin Schembri to sink his teeth into. Wishful thinking of course, another member of the posturing band devoid of any essence.
With Clifton as education minister and Justin opposing, it?s enough to slit your wrists!
Chickens will come home to roost eventually.
Clowns… They should be ashamed of themselves…
But is this not what the Labour Party and Bobby wants? Promoting a new breed of half wits?
Let?s not forget that this is the same regulator that did not bat an eyelid when MCAST (an organization which is audited by this regulator) declared itself a ?university? since 2018 without bothering to apply for a university license from the regulator.
To make matters worse, mcast suspended its Boards of studies (required by law to meet regularly) for several years and the regulator was not aware of this gross breach of the law! This begs the question, why we do we have an education regulator?
https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2019-09-08/local-news/MCAST-will-no-longer-use-word-university-NCFHE-says-6736213215
Obviously. How can uneducated nincompoops have anything positive to add to the Educational systems if they’re not even educated themselves? We have gangsters and criminals in government ??
With the current trajectory we might be looking ta a scenario where our certs are not recognised. All because rather than keep up standards, the bar is lowered again and again.
Why am i not surprised!
“dependency on the government”… absolutely says it all. The way the MAFIA operates is the REVERSE of how REAL education at any level is meant to operate.
No wonder Malta is plagued with utterly useless so-called lawyers. And that includes those half-witted jesters inside the Parliament of Malta.
Not a surprise. You get faced with this every day one way the other