Former MCAST students who took part in a one-off internship exercise are being asked to repay part of the funds they received due to overpayments made.
The over-payments totaled €21,000, and the amount each student was overpaid varied slightly depending on attendance.
"This really came out of the blue. We should not be made to pay for the mistakes of the establishment. All of us have moved on in our lives and have our financial commitments,” one of the students said.
Students speaking with this newsroom explained that they had warned MCAST about certain discrepancies, but were told that they were being paid the right amounts, only to later, around seven months after the conclusion of the internship, be told that there were some overpayments. The actual amounts overpaid, which varied between €2,800 to €3,100 per student, however, was told to them much later and came as a shock, sources said.
Contacted by The Malta Independent, MCAST Principal Stephen Cachia said that this was a one-off opportunity which came about following feedback from the video gaming industry about the skills sets they require within their industry. This was implemented through a 12 month Certificate Course in Video Game Art (MQF Level 5 / 60 ECTS) designed in conjunction with key players in the industry who also offered an internship for all the students as part of the course. In this manner students would be honing the knowledge , skills and competences already achieved through their degree into the actual needs of the gaming industry players operating in Malta.”
The MCAST Principal said that “MCAST secured public funding to fund the students while they were attending this course. Individual agreements were signed with each student specifying the exact amount of funding they would be receiving during the course. Unfortunately due to an administrative error, the students were overpaid beyond the amount agreed in this agreement. When this was flagged following customary internal financial controls within MCAST, meetings were held with the students concerned , the situation explained and an opportunity was given to each student to repay the overpaid amount in a gradual manner through instalments over a lengthy period of time. MCAST would like to note that the funds paid to the students are public funds and it has no option but to ask for repayment of any overpaid funds. MCAST is doing its utmost to ensure that this is done in a manner which does not create unnecessary burdens to students.”