COL received a delegation from the Ministry of Education and Employment, Malta, during 22-23 Sep 2015. The delegates were Mr Joseph Caruana, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry and Dr Alex Grech, Senior Advisor.

One of the purposes of this visit was to explore a range of activities related to online education where Malta and COL could synergise their respective advantages and strengths, recognising that Malta has a unique advantage of being an intersection of educational paradigms of EU and the Commonwealth. A key consideration was Malta’s vision of leadership in learner-centric digital education, with a focus on accreditation and recognition of qualifications arising from online learning. Malta’s interest in the Transnational Qualifications Framework of VUSSC and interest in COL’s Commonwealth Certificate for Teacher ICT Integration (CCTI) were noted and discussed extensively.

Also discussed were experiences of different Commonwealth countries in evolving sector-specific certification programmes. To develop and implement new activities along these and related lines, a special purpose MOU will be signed during the CHOGM in November 2015 with the Ministry of Education and Employment, Malta, and COL.

Welcoming the visitors, Professor Asha Kanwar, President of COL, said, “this initiative of Malta is timely and relevant as certification of skills and learning from all types of learning is a priority among policy makers; it is also a recognition of the useful advice and partnership that COL can provide”. Mr Caruana said that the workshops with COL focused on tangible opportunities for sustainable collaboration on digital education between the Ministry and COL in the short term.