The influence of globalisation and massification on public higher education : assessing the contextual realities

Abstract

The main question that this paper seeks to explore is: What contextual factors and conditions are contributing to the present higher education environment in Malta? To address this question, the author conducts a systematic study by examining the changing context of higher education from a legislative, economic and political perspective. The aim of this paper is to outline the determining influences that are shaping Malta’s higher education context. The research methods employed in this paper are mainly two: the first method involves the analysis of documents and data published in international academic journals and local reports. Statistics published by the National Commission for Further and Higher Education (NCFHE) and the National Statistics Office (NSO) were the main sources of local Maltese statistics. The second research method involves national and institutional data that was specifically requested by the author and that was never published before. NCFHE, the University of Malta (UM) and Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) were asked to provide data in order to present a comparative analysis by comparing local data with what has been published internationally. UM and MCAST are the two main public Maltese higher education institutions. In all instances headcount data is presented.