Gozo’s ITS Campus Confirms Certificate Courses Will Run… Despite Initial Registrar Email Saying Otherwise
A last-minute change has seen the sister island’s ITS campus reversing a decision to close a course in Gozo and force students to move to Malta instead.
Gozo’s hopeful culinary students were initially left bemused (and disappointed) when an email from the registrar informed them that due to a low amount of applicants, the Certificate in Food Preparation & Services and Foundation in Hospitality & Tourism courses will instead be run from the new campus grounds in Luqa.
But a group of parents and their children stood their ground and sought a solution, which came into fruition just a week later.
The email was sent to any applicants who were offered a place on the courses, sent from the ITS registrar, leaving the students with less than a month to arrange transport between the islands and to the new campus in Luqa.
The institute did offer up a €1,200 addition to the year’s stipend for students in Gozo to assist with travel and accommodation, but parents still felt that it wasn’t enough.
Upset, they approached the campus with their queries… and the institute then asked them to await a response.
We spoke to one of the mothers who corralled the group of parents, who explained that she had originally sought help for the transport to and from the campus
From, there other mothers had spoken up and banded together to fight the last-minute decision.
After her son was told a year ago that Gozo’s campus would not be running the courses, she approached them herself and was told this was not the case at all.
However, a few days after applying with her son, they were then sent the first email attached, stating otherwise.
Some parents were informed over the phone, but before receiving the email, the mother had visited the Gozo campus once more and was informed “that the course was closed due to a lack of numbers”.
“I then approached a local who said ‘yes’, they were told last year it would close,” the mother went on to explain. “I don’t know what was going on, but what I do know is, rumours on a small island seems to have led this to not being promoted enough. Malta received 53% increase in students and Gozo had a decrease in students.”
Thanks to the last-minute applications of two more students on the course, the college made the decision to reverse their initial choice to close the course in Gozo and enrol all students on Malta instead.