The system was launched during a press conference at Mcast’s Maritime Institute in Kalkara, which was also addressed

by Education, Youth and Employment Minister Louis Galea.

Dr Galea praised the investment particularly in light of the fact that Mcast was now growing steadily with over 3,500 students.

The new system will also help in the running of the new programme of extra-curricular activities, which students entering this year will be following, he said, pointing out that the new students will be applying next Monday.

An effective information system was crucial to monitor the strengths and weaknesses of the college’s performance and ensure an efficient use of resources.

Its main objective is to link and make information accessible across the different college sites – Paola, Kalkara, Naxxar, Mosta, Msida, Sliema, Luqa, Xewkija and Xaghra.

Among the advantages it offered, ADS project manager Carlo Apap Bologna explained, the staff will be able to have at their fingertips a range of information that will enable them to assess, for example, lecture attendance, the utilisation of the college’s infrastructure and even produce stipend forecasts.

The MIS caters for all the required information about each student, however in line with the Data Protection Act the information is classified and can only be accessed by authorised personnel.

The system has been developed locally by ADS System Ltd over the past two years and includes a number of modules that cover a number of areas such as admissions, attendance, student information etc. The modules allow different areas of use and the system has also been purchased by another two church schools.