Marking its 25-year anniversary, the membership organisation is updating its accreditation policy and has united with the government’s EFL Monitoring Board and tourism department to promote Malta as a study destination.

“I would like to see Malta working harder for awareness in new markets,” Chief Executive Officer Genevieve Abela said. “It’s always disappointing when people don’t know where Malta is and they don’t realise English is one of our national languages.”

“We’re trying to make it easier to prepare an application for membership but raise quality standards at the same time”

After adding three new schools this year, the organisation has 20 members that represent 90% of Malta’s ELT industry.

Figures from 2012 showed that the sector contributed more than €135 million to the Maltese economy thanks to an 18.2% rise in students to 82,000 up from 70,000 in 2011.

Official 2013 statistics for FELTOM members haven’t been released yet, however Senior Analyst at Deloitte Justin Feeney said it was another strong year for the sector.

“There’s been an increase in students from outside the EU indicative of awareness of Malta as an ELT destination thanks to the work of FELTOM,” he said.

As the government finalises legislation that will require new licensing standards for all ELT schools, Abela says FELTOM is undergoing its own quality reassessment to set themselves apart.

A third party audit has been underway since last year to overhaul FELTOM’s accreditation system and a pilot of the new regulations will be carried out with four schools this summer.

After the trial, the board will vote on the new changes and at the group’s annual general meeting in January 2015, new regulations will be rolled out.

“We’re trying to make it easier to prepare an application for membership but raise quality standards at the same time,” said Abela.

“We’re also looking to extend length of time schools must be in operation before they can apply for FELTOM accreditation as well as establishing a minimum number of students weeks they will have to have handled.”

This week, 46 agents from key markets including Brazil, Japan, Veitnam and Paraguay met with 24 schools for meetings in the mornings and fam trips to schools in the afternoon.

For the first time delegates were taken to the island of Gozo to visit schools and were given the opportunity to taste local wine and olive oil.

Agents were shown a film about the islands’ long and colourful past before an evening in historical Veletta. A closing reception was held at the newly constructed national aquarium.