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Malta turns corner
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Maltese English language schools experienced a downturn in student weeks in 2009 owing to the global economic crisis, but things seem to be picking up again in 2010. Gillian Evans reports.
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A number of factors hampered demand for English language courses in Malta in 2009, as Costantino Mifsud, Managing Director of International House Malta-Gozo, relates. “[The Maltese EFL market] was hit by the [global] economic crisis but mostly by the weak British pound, [which] led to euro zone students deciding to choose the UK instead of Malta because they felt they had more purchasing power,” he explains, adding, “2009 has been very difficult for the EFL market in Malta.”
These two factors, coupled also with the swine flu scare, were the main contributors to student weeks plummeting by anything from seven to 14 per cent. However, Paul Fenech, Chief Executive Officer at Magister Academy in St Julian’s, says that their 10 per cent drop in 2009 was “better than expected after such doom and gloom”. One school interviewed for this article even bucked the trend: student numbers at am Language Studio in Sliema grew by 10 per cent in 2009, thanks to “hard work, marketing and streamlining of procedures”, says the school’s Individuals Sales and Operations Manager, Marisa Grixti.
The English Language Academy (ELA) in Sliema, has been working hard to ensure the downward trend is reversed in 2010. Louiseanne Mercieca, Sales & Marketing Manager at the school, says, “We have since done much, including the upgrading of our management system and premises. We now have a large reception and entrance on to Tower Road, the most popular street in Sliema.” The school’s good results for the first quarter of 2010 seem to indicate that their work is paying off. “The positive performance during the first quarter of 2010 is a result of our efforts to improve,” asserts Mercieca.
Course demand has also reflected the difficult economic times, with Fenech reporting that they had “hardly any demand at all for the top-of-the-range courses”. To cater for the needs of a world in economic hardship, Clubclass English Language School in St Julian’s launched an English for Job Seekers course last year, which according to Caroline Castillo at the school, is an “intensive course selling at the price of a standard course for students who are unemployed and are looking to improve their career prospects”.
Looking at student nationalities, the Maltese EFL market is heavily reliant on Europeans, with students from this region accounting for 95 per cent of total EFL students in Malta in 2008, according to Malta’s National Statistics Office. Sprachcaffe Languages Plus is typical of many schools with its top three nationalities being Spanish, German and Italian. Greg Burrell at the school reports that this is the same as the previous year, although there has been some jostling for position. “[2009 was] the first time that Spain was in the number one position,” he reports. “That position had always been held by Germany.” Burrell puts this down to more study grants from Spain making Malta an attractive destination for Spanish students.
Although there are ripe markets beyond Europe for Maltese language schools, visa issuance in many countries is not conducive to market growth. Mercieca reports problems with visa issuance from China, Turkey and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In fact, Fenech says they actively avoid non-EU markets as these are where “we traditionally have administrative problems”.
Burrell comments that although visas have become less of a problem over the years, most of their business continues to stem from non-visa countries. However, he does note that changes to the UK visa system, which has made it harder for some nationalities to gain entry, have benefited Malta. “We are getting more long-term Koreans and Turks because of UK visa restrictions,” he relates.
Forecasts for the end of this year are mixed and Mercieca labels 2010 “a challenging and interesting year”, although she is confident that 2010 figures will be better than 2009. Fenech is also hopeful, saying, “Hopefully in the summer we will make up lost ground to recover the downward trend in the first four months of this year.”
Accreditation
When it comes to government regulations, the English language industry in Malta is covered, with the government’s EFL Monitoring Board in charge of ensuring national minimum standards for the industry. In addition, there is the schools’ association Feltom, which has an accreditation scheme for its members, and earlier this year, the government announced its intentions to introduce a national scheme.
The government’s intentions to set up such a scheme is largely welcomed by the industry, especially Feltom members who already adhere to certain quality measures. Greg Burrell, Director of Studies at Sprachcaffe Languages Plus, says, “We feel that quality assurance is the only way that we and Malta can ensure our long-term success and we would like all EFL schools in Malta to have to come up to mandatory quality standards. Low-quality operations give Malta a bad name.”
Louiseanne Mercieca at English Language Academy agrees. “We would most definitely welcome such a move as this would give potential clients a clear message that Malta takes its EFL industry seriously. Feltom introduced an accreditation scheme for all its member schools some time ago and this has proved to be very successful.”
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