A New Regulatory Wave: What MFHEA’s Latest Updates Mean for Malta-Licensed Education Providers
- The Training Consultants
- Dec 3, 2025
- 4 min read
A closer look at the latest MFHEA regulations driving a stricter and closely monitored higher education landscape.
In our previous blog, Weathering Uncertainty: Why Now Is the Best Time for Maltese Providers to Invest in Quality & Innovation, we outlined how Malta’s higher education sector was entering a period of increased oversight and regulatory sharpening.
Recent developments confirm this trajectory!
Over the past weeks, the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority (MFHEA) has issued three (3) important communications that signal a shift towards a more structured, predictable, and tightly governed regulatory environment for licensed education providers.
In essence, MFHEA-licensed institutions are operating in a landscape where the margin for administrative or pedagogical inconsistency is steadily shrinking.
The sector is being shaped by a framework that requires providers to be precise, proactive, and well-prepared.
Recent MFHEA Updates: The Direction of Travel
MFHEA’s latest communications - each focused on a different aspect of programme delivery- collectively accelerate the shift toward a more structured and closely monitored quality assurance environment in Malta.
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. - Chalres Darwin
Understanding the practical implications of each update is essential for maintaining compliance and ensuring smooth day-to-day operations.
Together, the updates reinforce a system moving steadily towards clearer operational rules, reduced flexibility, closer monitoring, higher expectations for documented processes, and more deliberate design of online and blended learning systems. This reflects a broader regulatory recalibration: one where quality assurance is assessed not only through documentation but through the consistency, stability, and technical accuracy of institutional practice.
#1 - Timetables
MFHEA’s communication on timetables (MFHEA/08/2025) introduces a strict new requirement: every MFHEA-accredited programme must operate on a fixed schedule, issued three months before the semester and upheld throughout.
For providers, the implications are significant. Planning cycles must become more rigorous; ad-hoc timetable changes that were previously overlooked are no longer acceptable. Institutions cannot restructure sessions around student employment needs, and tolerance for week-to-week rearrangements has effectively disappeared. This demonstrates a clear shift toward predictability, stability, and a more tightly controlled learner experience.
#2 - Languages of Instruction
MFHEA has clarified that it will no longer consider requests to introduce new teaching languages beyond English and Maltese, except where a programme is specifically designed to teach another language (MFHEA-10-2025).
This has strategic implications for providers, especially those targeting international markets.
The restriction reinforces linguistic coherence across Malta’s higher education ecosystem and reduces flexibility for multilingual programme development. Providers must ensure that future expansion plans, marketing collateral, and programme documentation remain aligned with these parameters.
#3 - Online Learning
The most consequential update concerns MFHEA’s Online Learning Regulations. MFHEA has confirmed that the previous guidelines for online and blended learning will now become formal, enforceable Regulations for MQF Level 5–8 qualifications. A transition year is set for 2026, with full regulatory compliance required in 2027 (MFHEA/09/2025).
For providers, the impact is substantial. One of the most significant requirements is the new definition of online contact hours:
Each ECTS must include at least 5 contact hours, and
4 out of these 5 hours must be delivered synchronously (live)
Only 1 contact hour may be asynchronous
This fundamentally reshapes online programme design and delivery. The shift prioritises live, tutor-led interaction, reducing the flexibility institutions previously relied upon for asynchronous learning. Providers must therefore reconsider module structures, lecturer availability, timetabling, and the technical infrastructure needed to support sustained live delivery.
In addition, online learning will be governed by standards that are no longer optional—expectations around instructional design competence, assessment integrity, the ethical use of AI, and the balance of synchronous and asynchronous activity become mandatory requirements.
Importantly, the alignment obligation applies not only to new proposals but also to already accredited online/blended programmes, which must be reviewed and updated throughout 2026.
Navigating a Stricter Regulatory Environment
The combined effect of these three MFHEA communications extends well beyond administrative adjustments.
They represent a more comprehensive approach to quality assurance — one that now reaches into governance, programme planning, pedagogy, staffing, technology, and the overall student experience.
Providers will need to reassess:
how programmes are planned and scheduled
how languages of instruction align with system-wide requirements
how online learning is designed, delivered, and evidenced
how institutional policies and procedures reflect the new levels of technical detail
Malta’s education sector is entering a phase where regulatory interpretation and internal coherence will matter just as much as documentation submitted during accreditation.
Preparing for What Comes Next:
Strengthening Compliance Frameworks
As MFHEA’s expectations increase, MFHEA-licensed education providers must ensure their internal systems evolve accordingly. In view of these recent policy updates, this includes reviewing programme design, stabilising timetabling practices, ensuring language alignment, updating IQA documentation, and preparing online/blended programmes for the 2026–2027 transition.
If your institution needs support interpreting these updates or aligning its internal systems ahead of the upcoming regulatory changes, our team at The Training Consultants is ready to assist — ensuring that your adjustments are accurate, timely, and fully aligned with MFHEA’s evolving quality assurance framework.
Contact us today to discuss how we can support your institution through this next phase of regulatory change.