In 2022, foreign students attending English language courses at local licensed English Language Teaching (ELT) schools amounted to 56,675, marking an increase of 28,822 over 2021, the NSO said Thursday.
The majority of students attending English language courses in Malta came from Italy (16.3 per cent), followed by France (13.1 per cent) and Germany (12.6 per cent). Overall, 70.5 per cent of total students originated from an EU country.
The largest share of language students fell within the 15 and under age bracket, accounting for 24.1 per cent of the total students following ELT courses. Students aged 50 and over were in the minority and numbered 4,639. Female students outnumbered males, and accounted for 62.3 per cent of the entire ELT student population.
July was the busiest month for local licensed ELT schools for courses attendance, accounting for 21.6 per cent of the annual total. August and October followed at 17.5 and 9.7 per cent respectively.
The most popular course uptake in local licensed ELT schools was ‘Intensive English’, whereby a total of 39,351 students, or 69.4 per cent opted for this course. This was followed by the ‘English specific purposes’ courses, with 20.7 per cent of total students.
Foreign students enrolled in local licensed ELT schools accounted for 246,314 student weeks. The absolute majority of courses (99.3 per cent of total student weeks) were held physically while online courses accounted for only 0.7 per cent. The average number of student weeks during the year under review stood at 4.3, a decrease of 0.6 compared to previous year. With an average of 14.5 weeks, students from Colombia recorded the highest number of student weeks, followed by South Korean and Chilean students with average student weeks at 13.3 and 13.1 weeks respectively.
In 2022, teaching and academic staff in local licensed ELT schools numbered 618, with the largest proportion (26.2 per cent) being in 55 and over age group. Female teachers accounted for 69.7 per cent of the total. Non-teaching staff amounted to 511, of whom 65.8 per cent were employed on a full-time basis.