MCAST has been awarded the concession to run the animal hospital in Ta’ Qali. In building its capacity to run a first Master’s programme in veterinary medicine, MCAST and APH signed an agreement to seal the new concession which will allow the College to use the animal hospital as one of its major facilities to deliver veterinary sciences courses. The agreement was signed by the Principal/CEO of MCAST Professor James Calleja and APH CEO Mr Keith Attard. The decision to acquire this concession had the approval of the MCAST’s Board of Governors, the Ministry for Education and the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights. The hospital will be open for the public as well as for MCAST students to undertake their practical hands-on sessions during the veterinary medicine degree course.

MCAST Master’s programme will be run with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the public Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). This Catalan Faculty ranks among the top 10 on the Shanghai Ranking of higher education institutions for veterinary medicine and has over 600 graduate students in its veterinary medicine programme together with a large number of  PhDs and Post-Docs. In meetings held earlier this week in Barcelona the Principal of the College together with the Director and the Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Sciences Ms Paula Grech Bonnici and Mr Malcolm Borg agreed on the launching of a Joint Degree between the two respective institutions. This would allow students enrolling in the course to benefit from theoretical and practical learning offered by MCAST and UAB. Lecturing staff from both institutions will be teaching. This is the first degree of its kind offered by a higher education institution in Malta. Calls for enrolment in the new course will be opened in July whilst entry requirements for the course will be made public in the coming days.

In November 2023, MCAST and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights (MAFA) signed a memorandum of understanding outlining their cooperation to set up and deliver this course. MAFA and MCAST have been collaborating closely on setting up the new Master’s programme and in providing the required facilities for students to undertake their practical learning during their studies at MCAST. The MCAST Centre for Agriculture, Aquatics and Animal Sciences was set up over twenty years ago and has more than 250 students among whom every year around 30 graduates in a Bachelor’s programme. The Centre provides qualifications at levels 1 to 6. The new Master’s programme will be the Centre’s first Level7 qualification.