MALTA ENJOYS A THRIVING EFL INDUSTRY BASED ON FELTOM'S QUALITY SCHOOLS

ELT Industry in Malta

The English language teaching to foreign students, or the ELT sector as it is commonly know, has become an important tourism related industry for Malta. In 2005, it attracted nearly 62,000 foreign students or 9.4% of the total tourist arrivals from non-English speaking countries. This amounts to 5.3% of all tourist arrivals in Malta!! The average length of stay is of these TEFL students totaled 17 nights when compared to the national tourist average of 8 nights. The growth rate of English Language student arrivals over the last 4 years averages an impressive 2,500 annually, which is highly significant when compared to mainstream tourism growth rates over the same period. There was a healthy increase of 6,029 students in 2005 over the previous year. The estimated foreign earnings for Malta stand around € 82 million representing some 6% of the estimated foreign earnings from tourism. FELTOM member schools represent the 17 leading and well-established schools that together receive almost 70% of all student arrivals. Most of the other active schools opened over the recent years and cater for the remaining student arrivals. 

Specific EFL Legislation results in higher quality and standards

Over the past ten years FELTOM has been the sole driving force to set this thriving industry on professional lines. Regulations governing the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language make it obligatory upon teachers to be professionally trained in EFL teaching methodology, under the guidance of a fully qualified and experienced Director of Studies. Moreover each licensed school employs an Administrator who is responsible for all non-academic matters of the school. Malta is the only country in the EFL world to have introduced apposite legislation dedicated to the licensing and operating of English language schools. Such legislation provides for an EFL Monitoring Board within the Ministry of Education whose functions are to ensure the maintenance of standards according to law. This legislation and monitoring was successfully achieved upon the good and constant lobby of FELTOM in the interests of the EFL student, profession, industry, Malta, and the schools themselves. 

Where do Malta’s EFL students come from?

The European Union is Malta's major and traditional EFL market. The Russian Federation has recently gained good ground to occupy fifth place in the list of student numbers visiting Malta. New emerging markets are being developed in Asia and Latin America, but arrivals are still relatively low. As in previous years, the highest number of students in 2005 came from Germany. These students made up 25.8 per cent of all students, followed by the Italians with 17.1 per cent. Austrian and French students accounted for 8.7 and 7.6 per cent respectively. 

European students made up 94.1 per cent of all foreign English language students, with 71.9 per cent coming from EU. countries, a a small decrease of less than 2 per cent over the previous year. Students from other European countries accounted for 22.2 per cent. Asia represented 4.5 per cent, Africa 0.8 per cent, N. America 0.4 and Oceania 0.2 per cent.  

While the highest percentage of tourists, namely 44 per cent, visited Malta in the shoulder months, most students studying the English language arrived during the summer season. Students arriving in July, August and September accounted for 60.4 per cent of all students while 30.76 per cent of students came to Malta during the shoulder months, namely March, April, May, June and October. Only 8.7 per cent of students attended English language courses during the winter season. 

The following are the main markets for EFL in Malta for the past four years: 

Comparative Figures 2002-2005

The actual number of student arrivals depends on a number of extraneous factors, not least being air transportation, accommodation, and price competitively with other EFL destinations. 

EFL student profile

The profile of the EFL student population is steadily changing from the original summer teenage student profile into that of an adult who seeks professional teaching, a relaxing and/or cultural surrounding and a pleasant mild climate. It is envisaged that English Language Schools shall attune to this new reality and provide more English tuition in specialized subjects to meet the growing need of the European business community. They will also however look further afar to recruit students who still require lessons in general every day spoken English. 

Value for money

On the official side, attention is to be given to the ever increasing trend in customer protection and awareness in buying value for money products, so as to ensure that the Malta English language product remains reliable and of a high professional standard.