Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies in south of Italy, east of Tunisia and north of Libya. With a population of about 475,000 over an area of 316 km sq, Malta is the world’s tenth smallest country in area. Its capital is Valletta, which is the smallest national capital in the European Union by area at 0.8 km sq (0.31 sq mi). The official and national language is Maltese, while English serves as the second official language.
FACTS ABOUT MALTA
Country: Malta or The Republic of Malta
Area: 316 km square
Climate: Temperate
Population: 493,559
Capital: Valletta
Other big cities: Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua
Official language: Maltese
GDP: $15.134 billion
Per capita income: $32,021
HDI: 0.885
Currency: Euro
Calling Code: +356
Literacy Rate: 99.1%
EDUCATION SYSTEM IN MALTA
Talking about Education System in Malta till the age of 16 years student must study Primary and Secondary Education. After that they have option of choosing either the General Education or Vocational one. Under the General Education they will start the career with Junior College and then after University level i.e. Bachelor then after masters and then PhD level. Under the vocational one they will choose MCAST/ITS that leads to the completion of the Bachelor of Science degree.
Taking about the number of universities, there are in total 6 universities in Malta as per the Wikipedia. Among them 1 is public and others are private universities.
REASONS WHY STUDENTS CHOOSE MALTA
1. Country member of the European Union
Malta is one of the members of European Union as well as Schengen country. So it will be plus point for the students who want to explore themselves in travel too.
2. English is an official national language
As the English is official language of Malta, international students won’t face any kind of language barriers in the Malta. They can get education in English language as well as they can communicate with the locals and other international students too.
3. One of the most peaceful and safest places in the world
Malta is counted as one of the peaceful and safest country in the world. So it is very much safe to study and work in Malta. So the numbers of international students are also increasing year by year in Malta.
4. High-quality education
Malta is a European country having best universities providing good quality education to national and international students. Malta is ranked in eleventh number among the best place to study in Europe.
5. Fees of university:
Universities of Malta offers several courses of study and the tuition fee of those program starts from 3000 Euro to 7500 Euro per year. Studying in Malta is cheaper as compared to other European countries like Germany, France, and UK due to low and affordable tuition fees.
6. Perfect climate
Malta’s climate is typical of the Mediterranean and is strongly influenced by the sea. The Maltese Islands have a pleasantly sunny climate with a daily average of around 12 hours sunshine in summer going down to 5 to 6 hours in mid-winter. Summers are hot, dry and very sunny. Overall climate is very much suitable for the students so this country can be good option to pick for further study in terms of climatic condition.
7. An individual with minimum academic percentage in higher secondary or three year diploma student can apply, there isn’t such percentage bar or any kind of demand of excellence academic qualification.
8. A person from weak economic background can easily apply because the tuition fees of the universities are affordable as compared to other countries like USA, Australia, New Zealand and some European country too like Denmark, France etc. You can get qualitative degree in less investment.
9. IELTS or any kind of English language test is not needed to apply in Malta. If you have knowledge of English i.e. if you can read and write English you can easily apply.
10. Employment rate of Malta is high as compared to some European countries i.e. there is a lot of job opportunity for the national and international students over there. While you do your degree, there hundreds of start-ups and small companies who would love to welcome you into their team.
11. An individual can afford monthly expenditure by working around 20 hour per week. He/she can easily cover all the expansion like house rent, food, clothing, personal hygiene, transport etc with the earning of part time job.
LIVING EXPENSES
Malta is very affordable European country with stable economy. Living costs for international students comes between 450-700 EUR/month depending on place of location.
Accommodation: Around 250- 450 Euro per month
Food: Around 150 -200 Euro per month
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
While applying for any country student should go through three aspects. If you meet those 3 aspects you can apply in that country and university.
1. Academic Requirement
– SLC/SEE students with minimum 40% can apply in few college for diploma level but Sometimes MOE does not issue NOC, in that case you cannot proceed ahead)
– An applicant must completed higher secondary education (10+2) for Bachelor and Bachelor for Masters Degree. If you have secured 40 % or above in your academic, you can apply for the next level. An applicant with gap up to 4 to 5 years can apply.
2. English Requirement:
Though any English language test is not mandatory to have admission in most of the universities of Malta, if you have done it is plus point for your visa.
3. Financial requirement:
You need to arrange lots of things during your processing time for the visa like Application and tuition fee, accommodation charges in Malta. Documents for visa, Travel medical Insurance, Visa charge, Air ticket and so on. The over-all cost for applying in Malta comes around 12-13 lakhs (depending on tuition fee). So if you and your family can afford this you, you can make mind to apply in Malta.
If you fulfill these eligibility criteria, you can start your procedure choosing nearest intake.
INTAKES
The main intakes of the university of is Spring Intake (Jan-Feb) and Fall Intake (Sep- Oct). But in colleges of the Malta you can get every 2 Months Intake.
PROCEDURE FOR MALTA
1. Firstly applicant need to select the university and courses which matches their previous study background.
2. After the applicant make a decision, it’s time to get enroll in the university and issue the offer letter. For Offer letter you need to submit following documents:
- Passport copy
- Educational Documents (SLC/+2/Bachelor- Mark Sheet and Certificate)
- English Recommendation Letter from School/ College OR Language Certificate (if any)
3. Then the university will provide the offer letter and it’s time to send application fee and tuition fee.
4. Along with this you need to arrange all other documents as per the checklist mentioned by VFS Nepal: Malta.
Mandatory Documents
- NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Ministry of Education
- Updated CV,
- Statement of Purpose or Motivational Letter
- Sponsorship Letter
- Maintaining good transaction in the bank account of yours or your father mother or siblings for Bank Balance Certificate and Statement (Up to 3 months statement required if possible)
Supplementary Documents
- Relationship Certificate
- Property Valuation and Tax Clearance Certificate
- Proof of All Income Source
- Citizenship of father and mother
- Police Report
- CA Report
5. Accordingly you need to prepare for the interview also as there is possibility of calling you for the interview.
6. In the same time students need to send the tuition fee to the university bank account as mentioned in the offer letter. As per the rule of the university, student can either send the tuition fee in electronic form i.e. Swift transfer or Can make Demand Draft.(In demand draft the amount is freeze in the bank account of sender till the university receives the original bank draft which is sent after the visa only)
7. After sending the tuition fee, university will issue the Invitation Letter and Letter of Accommodation and courier them to us as original documents needs to be submitted.
8. After sending the tuition fee, university will issue the Invitation Letter and Letter of Accommodation and courier them to us as original documents needs to be submitted in the VFS Center while submitting the documents.
9. At the same time, student needs to make Travel Medical Insurance (Plan A to C) for the period of 1 year.
10. After getting the invitation letter and making all documents ready for the documents submission, it’s time to lodge the visa. And for this it is necessary take the appointment of VFS to submit the documents. To book the appointment date you need to visit Website > Create account for Booking Appointment > Schedule Appointment >Follow the Instruction.
11. After the date booking, for the mentioned period student need to be in the VFS centre, Mahalaxmistan, Lalitpur, carrying all the documents as per the checklist provided on their Website . For the document submission you need to pay NPR 18,682 in the VFS center. Details are mentioned below:
Details of Visa Fee:
- Visa Fee NPR 8344 (INR 5215)
- Bio-metric NPR 3328 (INR 2080)
- Service fee NPR 3840
- Two way courier NPR 1920
- Demand Draft Charge NPR 1250
IN TOTAL NPR 18,682
12. As the interview is not sure in case of Malta, if you are called for the interview, VFS will mail you within around 2 weeks of documents submission to the VFS stating that you need to appear in the Embassy in the mentioned period. Otherwise after 1 month your passport will be in VFS center for collection. You need to regular track your file from the Website Then Enter Reference number and DOB. Also regular check your email for the VFS notification.
13. If you are called for the interview in India, reach there on time with the documents asked in the mail. Normally email print and updated Bank Balance Certificate and Statement. Otherwise you will be called for the documents collection or you will get notification to collect your document while tracking your documents. And the timing for the collection of document is from 1 pm to 3 pm (Monday to Friday)
14. After the collection you will get the decision Accept or Reject.
Accept:
Congratulation you have made it. Proceed for the further processing.
Reject: In case of Rejection you have two options:
i. Appeal for the reviewing the denial of visa:
For this you need to email the following documents to the email id mentioned in rejection letter i.e. visa.appeals@gov.mt. You need to send the following scanned documents
a. Appeal letter
b. New Itinerary (If Needed)
c. Passport
d. Refusal Letter
ii. Refund of the tuition fee:
For this we will mail the University for the Refund along with the refusal letter. If you have done swift before it may take till 3 months to get the fee refunded and if draft then within an hour the fee will be refunded.
15. After Acceptance of your visa you need to reimburse the Demand Draft and send tuition fee in the university bank account through swift transfer. Or few universities want the demand draft so you need to courier them.
16. Now it’s time to arrange for the air ticket. It may cost around 500-600 Euro.
17. After the ticket confirmation, the details of your flight schedule should be sent to the university so that they can arrange for the airport pickup and accommodation placement.
18. Now the student needs to exchange 1000 Euro (pocket money) from any commercial bank
19. As everything is managed it’s time for final departure orientation for the student. Also an applicant should travel to Malta during the flight as per the checklist mentioned below:
- Original educational documents (for Bachelor students higher secondary certificate + mark sheet + apostles / Master students: bachelor`s degree + mark sheet +
apostles and additionally higher secondary certificate with mark sheets but without apostles) - 6 identical photographs,
- Offer letter, Invoice, Invitation Letter
- Passport with visa,
- NOC Copy,
- Flight Ticket with chop of 1000 euro
- Swift Copy,
- Fee transfer form,
- 1000 Euro and need to chop in Air ticket and Passport
- Warm Clothes
- Pressure cooker
- Basic medicine for headache, stomach ache, common cold, fever, etc
PLEASE DO NOT TAKE SHOWER IMMEDIATELY AFTER REACHING THERE
20. After reaching to the university always remember to provide original documents and photographs to the college for the further processing.
IMPORTANT TERMS
1. Visa: Visa is a piece of paper which permits an individual to entry in the country for certain time period. While applying as student (time period needs to be more than 91 days) an individual needs to apply for National Visa (D). Though you are applying for long term student visa, you will get the visa of only 91 days only. You should extend your study visa after 21 days in Malta.
2. TRC (Temporary Resident Card): Visa only supports for the entry of an individual. If he needs to stay for more than 91 days he needs to have Temporary Residence Card (TRC). As soon as you reach there you need to apply for the TRC and you will get the card before expiry of visa.
VFS Global
Address: VFS Global Services Pvt. Ltd., Academy of Culinary Arts Building, Ground Floor, Mahalaxmisthan Marga, Lagankhel, Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Nepal
VFS Helpline Details
Helpline number: +97714235519
Alternative Number: +977-1-5526253
Email ID: infomaltanp@vfshelpline.com
Website: https://www.vfsglobal.com/malta/india/
High Commission of Malta
Address: N60, Panchsheel Park North, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi, Delhi 110017, India
Contact No: +91 11 4767 4900
Email: maltahighcommission.newdelhi@gov.mt
Website: https://foreignandeu.gov.mt/en/embassies/hc_new_delhi/Pages/HC_New_Delhi.aspx