Malta’s official regulator for the accreditation of higher education institutions, including universities, was not accepted to join the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), a major blow to the country’s international higher education credentials.
The Shift is informed that Malta’s application was rejected following an external review of the island’s regulatory authority.
The Malta Further and Higher Education Authority (MFHEA) encountered the same fate when it tried to join the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA).
The two applications are linked, and a rejection by the board of one association automatically excludes the regulator from membership in the other.
Malta’s applications for membership were made in 2023, but the MFHEA kept the process under wraps and did not even announce its attempts had failed.
Sources told The Shift that the regulator is appealing the decision to try to reverse the damage made to its standing, particularly among its European counterparts.
PN MP Charles Azzopardi raised the issue in parliament recently, asking Education Minister Clifton Grima to inform MPs of the status of Malta’s applications.
The minister admitted that the MFHEA was denied membership in both the register and the quality assurance organisation but gave no details about the reasons for rejection.
He insisted that an unpublished external review found that the MFHEA was not in breach of any European standards envisaged by the organisation. However, he said this was not enough to be included in the EQAR register.
Although the regulator’s top brass, headed by Chairman Edward Woods and CEO Rose Anne Cuschieri, are still trying to understand what went wrong, they are reportedly furious that officials inside the regulator applied for membership when the authority was still unprepared.
According to the sources, certain controversial decisions made by the MFHEA in the past years have dented its chances of joining the European quality assurance associations.
They notably referred to accreditations issued to the American University of Malta (AUM) despite its poor quality assurance score and to the Gzira-based International European University (IEU), a Ukrainian institution. The MFHEA was flooded with complaints from students claiming that the IEU was a scam.
Despite these claims, the MFHEA renewed the IEU licence for another year, to the bewilderment of students and lecturers who had to leave their jobs without getting paid.
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…….. “they are reportedly furious that officials inside the regulator applied for membership when the authority was still unprepared” QABZA OHRA FIL-KWALITA!!
L-id ix-xellugija……..
Accreditation of the AUM was rushed. Courses needed to be accredited within a two week timeframe. Very unrealistic timeframe to review a whole course. And if I recall, accreditation at the time was contingent on the review of one evaluator. The feeling was that this needs to be approved ASAP. I am not aware of how the accreditation actually went down. But a mammoth task in a limited timeframe is an obvious recipe for disaster. Clearly, the results speak for themselves.
Are we the best in Europe as promised or not.?
L ghira tad dinja…don’t forget
“… but gave no details about the reasons for rejection.” Does anyone need an explanation after reading this article?
Return the property back to the Maltese
Not surprising in the least, where low standard educational bodies are issuing “Degrees” and “Masters Degrees” such as AUM and Idea Malta – filled with “Lecturers” connected to the Government and other political figures, with very low standard qualifications being issued.
This article should make us reflect on the evident extent of incompetence that the heads of regulatory entities hold in relation to management and governance capabilities. They can’t even ensure that they manage their own business well let alone authorising or licensing others. Clearly, this makes Malta an ideal place for educational scammers and fraudsters. Well done to the Ministry for Education, Minister and his well-paid ‘consultants’ for the impeccable work.
We have been promised Heaven on Earth – but going this far down in the estimation of European education bodies is far from what had been promised by Labour to start with!
Mintoff’s promised Degrees and Certificates not worth the paper they are written on has arrived, thanks to another Labour Government full of cretins.
To that you need to add the hallowed portals of institutions whose purpose is to provide TCN’s with “student visa” entry or give totally unqualified persons a six week course in healthcare to shovel them into jobs as carers.