Universities in Malta for African Students

Choosing a university in Malta

Malta recognises 8 higher-education institutions, and the whole sector sits on one small island. Three are public: the University of Malta, MCAST and the Institute of Tourism Studies. Queen Mary University of London runs a medical campus in Gozo. The rest are private colleges licensed by MFHEA, the national regulator. Check any private name against the live MFHEA register before you pay a deposit: the title “University” is restricted under Maltese law, and most private providers are licensed as higher education institutions instead. That is a legal distinction, not a quality verdict, but it tells you what you are signing up for.

Language of instruction is not what separates these institutions, because all of them teach in English. Three other things do. Price: a public bachelor’s is €8,500–10,800 per year against €5,750–19,500 per year at the private colleges. Location: living in Valletta costs €1,510–1,930 per month against €900–1,200 per month in Kalkara, and that gap compounds over three or four years. And the entry route, which differs sharply by institution.

Students at the University of Malta, MCAST and ITS are exempt from the higher health-insurance threshold a residence permit demands of everyone else, so the public three carry one less cost and one less document.

Top universities in Malta

University of Malta, Msida, founded 1592, is the national flagship and the island’s only comprehensive university, with 12,000 students across medicine, ICT, engineering, law, business, health sciences and the arts. It stands at #696 (QS 2027) and 801–1000 (QS 2026). Bachelor’s tuition is €8,500–10,800 per year and master’s €10,800–14,400 per year.

MCAST, Paola, is the second public degree-awarder, 8,905 students strong and placed 701–900 (QS 2026), covering engineering, ICT, business, applied science and creative arts. It bills whole programmes rather than years: €19,500–26,000 per programme for a bachelor’s, €7,900–10,000 per programme for a master’s, with the final year waived for students who qualify under its scholarship fund. Its English floor is IELTS 5.5.

Institute of Tourism Studies, Luqa, public since 1987, trains 1,200 students in hospitality management, culinary arts and tourism, with 3 English bachelor’s and 2 English master’s programmes. Fees are per semester: €3,950 per semester at bachelor’s level, €4,250 per semester for its full-time MBA.

Queen Mary University of London, Malta Campus, in Victoria, Gozo, teaches one thing: the UK MBBS, awarded by a university ranked #103 (QS 2027) and #134 (QS 2026). Tuition is €39,500 per year, the application itself is free, and it asks IELTS 7 — the highest floor in Malta.

American University of Malta, Cospicua, opened in 2015 and teaches business, engineering, IT and design at €8,000–9,000 per year for a bachelor’s and €10,000–12,000 per year for a master’s, plus €100–200 per semester in fees. Doctoral study is €10,000 per year.

GBSB Global Business School, Birkirkara, is business-only and almost entirely foreign: 358 students, 98 per cent of them international, studying management, finance, digital marketing and cybersecurity. A bachelor’s is €6,900 per year and a master’s €8,900–10,900 per year, both inclusive of registration and administrative charges. It is ranked #54 (QS 2026).

Global College Malta, at SmartCity in Kalkara, founded 2012, teaches management, accounting and finance, marketing, human resources and tourism at €6,100 per year, with twelve-month master’s programmes priced whole at €9,000–10,000 per programme. Its bachelor’s English floor, IELTS 5.5, is among the lowest here.

St Martin’s Institute of Higher Education, Ħamrun, founded 1985, is the smallest at 196 students and teaches London-validated degrees in computing, computer science, games design and business — 9 bachelor’s and 1 master’s — at €6,696 per year. Non-EU students also pay a separate one-off visa administration fee.

English-taught programmes

Malta’s official languages are English, Maltese, and English is the medium of instruction at all 8 recognised institutions, at bachelor’s and master’s level alike. There is no special international track to look for and no separate EMI label: the University of Malta, MCAST, AUM, GBSB and Global College publish no English-programme count because English is simply the default. Only the two smallest publish counts — the Institute of Tourism Studies lists 3 bachelor’s programmes and St Martin’s 9.

Maltese still appears in a few places: programmes with Maltese-law components, local teacher training, and clinical placements where you deal with local patients. Most applicants never meet one, but check the language line on your own course page.

The test, not the teaching, is the hurdle. The national floors are IELTS 6 for a bachelor’s and 6.5 for a master’s, and the University of Malta grants no nationality-based exemption to any of the countries we cover — being from an anglophone country is not a waiver, whatever an agent tells you. Institutional floors range from IELTS 5 at St Martin’s to IELTS 7 at Queen Mary, so the score you need depends on where you apply. TOEFL iBT is accepted too, from 60 at ITS to 87 at MCAST. See studying in Malta without IELTS for the qualification-based routes.

Entry requirements for African students

There is no central portal. The route is Direct to university, and each institution decides on your certificate itself, working from a recognition statement rather than a grade table. Recognition runs through MQRIC, Malta’s ENIC-NARIC centre inside MFHEA, at MQRIC (€10 already on database / €20 Maltese qualification / €50 foreign qualification + €2 postage). An apostille on your documents is required: yes. Germany’s APS does not exist here — no — so nobody should be selling you one.

At the University of Malta, WASSCE and NECO, KCSE and the South African NSC give no direct bachelor’s entry; the Foundation Studies route comes first, and the Moroccan Baccalauréat is likewise not accepted alone. A good English pass on those certificates does meet UM’s English requirement. MCAST and ITS publish no thresholds either and assess each certificate through an MQRIC comparability statement. The private colleges — AUM, GBSB, Global College and St Martin’s — publish nothing and decide case by case: no fixed bar to clear, no certainty either.

Queen Mary is the exception: it accepts the South African NSC at Higher Level directly, on a science-heavy grade profile, but takes neither WASSCE nor KCSE nor the Moroccan Baccalauréat alone — those applicants need A-levels at AAA, the IB or an approved foundation programme. For master’s entry anywhere, your bachelor’s must first be confirmed as MQF Level 6 equivalent. Medicine in English exists in two places: UM at €26,000 per year and the QMUL MBBS at €39,500 per year. See applying to Malta from Nigeria for country detail.

Tuition and scholarships

Public tuition for non-EU students is €8,500–10,800 per year at bachelor’s level and €10,800–13,400 per year at master’s, split by faculty rather than by nationality: arts and business sit at the bottom of each band, science at the top. Medicine is the outlier at €26,000–39,500 per year. Private colleges charge €5,750–19,500 per year for a bachelor’s and €7,750–20,000 per year for a master’s, and a UM doctorate is €7,400–11,000 per year. The cost of studying in Malta puts these against rent and insurance.

Application fees are small and separate: €100 at Global College, €125 at St Martin’s, €150 at MCAST.

One number to ignore: the low per-semester fee circulating on aggregator sites is the EU part-time evening rate, not the non-EU price — if an agent quotes it to you, they have not read the fee schedule. On scholarships, be realistic. The only national scheme on file for Malta is Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters; there is no Maltese government scholarship for African students. The one institutional discount worth naming is MCAST’s scholarship fund, which waives the final year for eligible students. The Malta scholarships page lists what is actually open to you.

How to apply

1. Shortlist two or three institutions from the MFHEA register on subject, fee band and the English score you can reach; whether you pick UM, MCAST or ITS decides your insurance threshold later.
2. Send your certificate and transcript to MQRIC for recognition, and have the documents apostilled — yes, required, not optional.
3. Apply direct to each institution; there is no shared system. Intakes are October, February (some). The confirmed non-EU deadline for the last October cycle was 1 July 2026, 14:00 (confirmed, Oct 2026 intake; 2027/28 date not yet published), so work to early July.
4. Submit English proof: IELTS 6 for a bachelor’s, 6.5 for a master’s, or the institution’s accepted equivalent.
5. Accept the offer and pay the application fee and first instalment. Check the admission letter names your programme, its length and its language: the visa file fails without them.
6. Buy health insurance with a minimum sum insured of 30,000 for the visa; cover costs €150–400 per year. Outside UM, MCAST and ITS the permit demands far more.
7. Apply for the National long-stay (D) visa at VFS Global at least nine weeks before your course starts. The fee is €100–150, biometrics are taken, funds must show €746–950 per month, and a decision takes 3 to 9 weeks. The Malta student visa guide has the document list.
8. After arrival, complete the Chest X-ray within 4 weeks of arrival and file the residence permit, €50.