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Malta feedback
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Malta is becoming increasingly popular with Asian language travellers, as well as with business people and professionals looking to learn English abroad.
Malta feedback at a glance
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Total number of students: female 81, male 44 (unknown 5) 130
Average age in years: 31.6
Average length of programme in weeks: 7.6
Average number of students in class: 7.4
Average number of hours’ language tuition per week: 22.4
% of students who found their course through an agent: 26
% of students who booked through an agent or adviser: 57
% of students who had been on another lang. programme: 33
% of students who would recommend their school: 92
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| Respondents by world region of origin |
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Top nationalities |
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W Europe (48%)
Asia (22%)
C & E Europe (22%)
Latin America (3%)
Africa (2%)
Unknown (3%)
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1. German 12%
2. Japanese 11.5%
3. Korean 9%
3. Italian 9%
3. Russian 9%
6. Czech 8.5%
7. Swiss 6%
8. Spanish 4%
8. Turkish 4%
10. French 3%
10. Belgian 3%
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| In my class there are... |
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How will you use your Engish in the future? |
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Too many students (19%)
Too many students of my language (13%)
Too many students from one other countries (6%)
None of these (55%)
Unknown (8%)
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Coll. study in Malta (2%)
Coll. study elsewhere (11%)
College study at home (5%)
Current or future work (60%)
For pleasure only (19%)
For pleasure only (3%)
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| How did you find your programme? |
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Standard of the teaching |
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1. II found it on the Internet (42%)
2. It was recommended by an agent (26%)
3. It was recommended by a friend/relative (17%)
4. I saw it advertised (7%)
Unknown (8%)
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Excellent (56%)
Good (33%)
Satisfactory (2%)
Poor (1%)
Unsatisfactory (1%)
Unknown (8%)
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| Standard of your academic programme |
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What is your accomodation while in Malta? |
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Excellent (18%)
Good (45%)
Satisfactory (15%)
Poor (2%)
Unsatisfactory (1%)
Unknown (19%)
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Host family (35%)
Residential/single room (22%)
Residential/dormitory (13%)
Other (28%)
Unknownr(2%)
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| Standard of your social programme? |
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Standard of your accommodation |
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Excellent (17%)
Good (35%)
Satisfactory (22%)
Poor (5%)
Unsatisfactory (1%)
Unknown (19%)
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Excellent (19%)
Good (33%)
Satisfactory (26%)
Poor (7%)
Unsatisfactory (2%)
Unknown (13%)
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Did you book your course through an agent or an educational adviser?
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Yes (57%)
No (36%)
Unknown (7%)
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Before looking for your course, did you know where you wanted to study?
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Country
Yes (65%)
No (29%)
Unknown (6%)
City/town
Yes (29%)
No (60%)
Unknown (11%)
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School
Yes (33%)
No (59%)
Unknown (8%)
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Student nationality
Malta is attracting greater numbers of international students from long-haul destinations as evidenced in this year’s Feedback survey. Twenty-two per cent of student respondents were from Asia, compared with 10 per cent last year (see Language Travel Magazine August 2006, pages 22-23), and Japanese was the second-most prevalent nationality, with Koreans following in third place. Western Europe’s share of the market slipped from 61 per cent to 48 per cent this year, and Germans, although still the top nationality in Malta, accounted for only 12 per cent of students, down from 23 per cent in 2006. Interestingly, there were fewer Eastern Europeans this year, with Russians accounting for nine per cent of students, down three percentage points on last year, although Czech students stormed up the rankings to take sixth place this year. Chinese, which accounted for 17 per cent of students in our feedback survey two years ago (see Language Travel Magazine, July 2005, pages 17-18), made up only 1.5 per cent of total students in Malta this year, perhaps indicating that visa issuance is still proving problematic.
Student motivation
There has been a marked change in Malta’s average student profile with a higher proportion of business professionals taking English language courses in the country. This year in-service professionals accounted for 47 per cent of respondents, compared with only 27 per cent last year, and 57 per cent of respondents said they currently used English for work, up from 34 per cent in 2006. This also had an effect on the average age of students, which was up from 26 years in 2006 to 31.6 years in this year’s survey. Another characteristic of the executive market is shorter stays; this year the average length of stay was 7.6 weeks compared with 10.3 weeks last year.
Student enrolment
A majority of students (42 per cent) found out about their school via the Internet, while only 26 per cent first heard of their school from an agent or educational adviser. However, 57 per cent booked their language course through an agent. When we asked students why they had chosen their school, the most frequent answer was that it had been recommended to them by an agent. Other factors included that they had been to the school before and that they were attracted to the school because of a particular language programme it offered.
Standard of the schools
Despite the fact that the average class size was only just over seven students, 19 per cent of respondents indicated that there were too many students in their class. The majority of these were in classes of 10 or more. The Maltese language schools in this year’s survey welcomed 26 different nationalities, however, 16 per cent of respondents agreed that there were too many students of their own nationality, almost half of whom were German.
Living in Malta
Despite the well-documented shortage of host families in Malta (see Language Travel Magazine August 2007, page 41), 35 per cent of students were staying with host families this year compared with 17 per cent last year. A relatively high proportion (28 per cent) gave their accommodation as “other”, most of whom indicated that they were staying in a hotel. This may be linked to the increased number of business people studying in Malta.
Thank you to the following schools for participating in our survey:
Alpha School, St Paul’s Bay; AM Language Studio, Sliema; Chamber College, Gzira; Clubclass Residential Language School, Swieqi; EC English Language Centre, St Julians; European School of English, Paceville; Inlingua Malta, Sliema; Institute of English Language Studies (IELS), Sliema; LAL Malta, Sliema; Linguatime, Sliema; Magister Academy, St Julians; NSTS English Language Institute, Gzira; Skylark, Msida.
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Contact any advertiser in the this issue now
The following language schools, associations and accommodation providers advertised in the latest edition of Language Travel Magazine. If you would like more information on any of these advertisers, tick the relevant boxes, fill out your details and send.
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