MCAST launches its first two Master’s degrees

MCAST will in October offer its first ever two Master’s degree programmes, in Business Administration and Business Informatics.

The part-time programmes will commence at the start of the 2016/17 scholastic year, along with 358 other part-time courses.

“This is another positive step as it widens the possibilities for MCAST students,” education minister Evarist Bartolo said, while launching the part-time courses at MCAST’s Paola campus. “The courses cover key economic areas which have a lot of potential.”

A legal notice published by the education ministry in May last year allows MCAST to offers courses of up to Level 7 (Masters’ degrees, Postgraduate degrees and Postgraduate certificates) whereas it had previously only been deemed fit to offer courses up to Level 6 (Bachelor’s degrees).

The decision was criticised by Opposition MP George Pullicino, who questioned whether any studied had been carried out before the government allowed MCAST to offer Level 7 courses.

“MCAST will obviously be more credible if its programmes are accredited by an independent institution,” Pullicino said. “We are not against MCAST’s self-accreditation at this level, but we must ensure that the process is carried out with as high a quality as though it were being carried out by a foreign institution.”

However, Bartolo retorted that the National Commission for Further and Higher Education had granted MCAST the status of a self-accrediting institution back in 2012, and accused Pullicino of conducting a "ferocious attack against MCAST's integrity".