The new Lm50 million Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) community campus in Corradino will accommodate 10 modern, attractive institutes by 2015, in accordance with the MCAST strategic assessment.

Education, Youth and Employment Minister Louis Galea officially launched the project at the Mediterranean Conference Centre yesterday morning, four days after Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had publicly announced the government’s intention to rebuild the complex.

Minister Galea said the government’s vision to have a new MCAST campus was to eventually bring the college in line with the University of Malta, which has a very long history.

The two institutions will be like twin towers, metaphorically connected in such a manner that they would complement each other, said Dr Galea.

Having all institutes – apart from the two Gozo institutes – on one campus, means that students receive a more holistic education by being in touch with all the different institutes, he said, adding that the new campus will be a statement in itself – a statement of excellence, quality and results.

The fact that the new campus will be close to the industrial estate will also mean that students will get the opportunity to be in touch with the world of work. The industrial zone will become a learning estate, said Dr Galea.

The government is multiplying MCAST’s success, because one can never reach the peak of the education mountain, particularly in the knowledge-based society the country will be dependent upon in the coming years.

The government has approved MCAST’s master plan and the strategic plan, which concluded that the increased demand will have to be matched by an increased supply of physical and human resources.

MCAST then prepared a master plan design brief for the Corradino campus which caters for the expansion in the physical resources of the college. Currently, the MCAST complex in Corradino accommodates the institutes of business and commerce, electrical engineering, ICT and mechanical engineering.

The plan envisages that by 2015 the complex will also accommodate institutes not currently located there, namely those of art and design, agribusiness, construction engineering, maritime, community services, as well as the Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS), which is currently separate from MCAST.

Following a call for tenders, Mangion, Mangion and Partners heading a team made up of the UK-based, Building Design Partnership, Mediterranean Technical Services, ADI Associates and Chris Zahra and Associates, was appointed by MCAST to prepare the master plan and work began in late August 2006.

The first stage of the master plan process was primarily an information gathering stage. An analysis of the design brief was made and the requirements assessed for all teaching and hub activities, sports facilities and car parking.

During the second stage meetings were held with various stakeholders – notably the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa), the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, the Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, the Paola local council, the Malta Maritime Authority and the Malta Transport Authority (ADT).

Construction methods and schedules of materials were prepared, together with a scope of mechanical and electrical engineering services.

From the appraisal of all the information available, it became clear that in order to accommodate all the original and new institutes, the required sports facilities and outdoor amenity spaces and car parking, it was necessary to extend the MCAST site from the church dedicated to St Anthony, all the way down to the harbour.

The full master plan provides for 59,915 square metres of learning space, flexible teaching spaces, workshops, laboratories, student facilities, administration and indoor sports plus outdoor sports, public amenity spaces, 1,150 car parking spaces and servicing.

MCAST’s beginnings date back to 2001, when 1,600 students followed courses at the college. Currently the college accommodates more than 4,000 full-time and 5,000 part-time students.

MCAST principal and chief executive Frank Edwards explained that the college has been a success story over the past six years and the experience gained is reliable and robust.

He said expansion was experience at all levels and projections show that about 5,800 full-time and over 8,000 part-time students will follow courses at the college during the academic year 2008/9.

MCAST president Paul A. Attard referred to the Lisbon Agenda, which aims to make the EU “the world’s most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy, capable of sustainable economic growth, with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion”.

Since this has become Malta’s agenda, MCAST is becoming a major contributor towards its achievement in all its aspects, said Mr Attard.