Number of English-language students coming to Malta on the rise

The number of foreign students heading to Malta to learn English is on the rise, according to the latest statistics provided by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

In 2017, foreign students attending English language courses at locally licensed English Language Teaching (ELT) schools numbered 87,190 – equivalent to an increase of 13.6% over 2016.

The majority of students attending English language courses in Malta came from Italy (29.4%), Germany (11.8%) and France (10.5%). Together, these accounted for more than half of total students. The largest share of language students were aged 15 or younger, making up 32.2% of total students.

Students aged 50 and over were in the minority, numbering 5,741. Female students outnumbered males in all age groups, and accounted for 59.7% of the entire student population under review. July was the busiest month for local ELT schools, with 21,567 arrivals, or 24.7% of the annual total. This was followed by August and March with 10.8% and 10% of total arrivals respectively.

The most popular course offered by ELT schools is General English. A total of 62,317 students - 71.5% - studying during 2017 opted for this course. This was followed by the Intensive English course. The share of foreign students attending English language courses in 2017, when compared to total inbound tourists for the same year, stood at 3.8%.

Foreign students enrolled in local licensed ELT schools spent a total of 244,202 weeks in Malta. The average length of stay during the year under review stood at 2.8 weeks, down by 0.2 weeks when compared to 2016.

With an average of 12.2 weeks, students from Colombia recorded the highest average duration. These were followed by South Korean and Turkish students with an average duration of 9.3 and 7.2 weeks respectively. In 2017, teaching staff in local licensed ELT schools amounted to 1,225. The largest share of teaching staff (37.6%) was aged between 18 and 24. Female teachers accounted for 71.4% of the total teaching staff. Non-teaching staff amounted to 759, of which 56.3% were employed on a full-time basis.