In today’s diverse education landscape, qualifications can feel confusing. With so many certificates, diplomas, degrees and vocational awards available locally and internationally, it is not always clear what each qualification really represents. Learners, employers and education providers often ask the same question: how can different qualifications be compared and their value understood clearly?
This is where Malta’s national system for qualifications and recognition plays an important role.
The Malta Further and Higher Education Authority (MFHEA) is the national body responsible for fostering quality and trust in further and higher education. It licenses providers, accredits programmes and recognizes qualifications so that they are understood and trusted in Malta and beyond. Through this role, MFHEA helps ensure that qualifications, whether academic or vocational, local or foreign, are evaluated against transparent criteria and placed at the appropriate level of the Malta Qualifications Framework (MQF.
What is the MQF?
The Malta Qualifications Framework (MQF) is Malta’s national system for categorising qualifications into eight levels, which are based on learning outcomes: what a learner knows, understands, and can do in terms of knowledge, skills, and competences. Managed by the MFHEA, the MQF serves as a national reference for education and training in Malta, helping learners, employers, and providers understand the position of a qualification and how it compares with others.
The MQF supports transparency, progression and quality across all forms of learning. It also strengthens trust in qualifications by creating a shared structure that can be used nationally and internationally.
MQF levels explained
The MQF comprises eight levels, from basic education to doctoral programs. Each level is defined by specific learning outcomes rather than just the qualification name
- Levels 1–2: Foundational learning and basic skills, often linked to compulsory education and introductory learning pathways. They include: Introductory Certificate, VET Level 1, Foundation Certificate, MATSEC Secondary Education Certificate, VET Level 3.
- Levels 3–4: Secondary and post-secondary education, including vocational education and training qualifications. They include: Certificate, MATSEC Secondary Education Certificate, VET Level 3, Advanced Diploma Pre-tertiary certificate, MATSEC Matriculation certificate, VET Level 4.
- Level 5: Undergraduate certificates and diplomas, including short-cycle higher education qualifications.
- Level 6: Bachelor’s degrees and equivalent qualifications.
- Level 7: Master’s degrees and postgraduate diplomas requiring advanced and specialised learning, post-graduate ceetificate.
- Level 8: Doctoral Programmes, including PhD-level qualifications based on original research and high-level expertise and professional doctorate.
For learners, these levels make progression easier to understand, whether moving from school to vocational education, from vocational learning to higher education, or from one qualification to the next. For employers, the levels provide a clearer indication of a qualification’s complexity and depth.
How the MQF connects with the EQF
The MQF is aligned with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), which also uses eight levels based on learning outcomes. This alignment makes Maltese qualifications easier to compare with qualifications awarded across Europe.
In practice, a qualification at a specific MQF level can also be related to the corresponding EQF level. This enhances transparency for learners studying abroad, helps employers interpret qualifications from various countries, and allows institutions to manage recognition more consistently.
The connection between the MQF and the EQF strengthens mobility, comparability and trust. It helps ensure that qualifications awarded in Malta are more readily understood beyond national borders while remaining rooted in Malta’s quality assurance system.
Why the MQF Matters. And What If It Did Not Exist?
The MQF provides a common “language” for education in Malta and brings several key benefits for different groups.
For learners and prospective students, it offers:
- Clarity about the level and value of their qualification.
- Clear progression pathways, making it easier to plan the next step in education, training or their career.
- Better opportunities for mobility, both within Malta and across Europe, thanks to the link with the EQF and other frameworks.
For employers and industry, it ensures:
- A consistent way to interpret qualifications when hiring or planning upskilling and reskilling.
- Greater confidence that accredited qualifications meet nationally agreed standards.
For education and training providers, it offers:
- Clear level descriptors to use when designing new programmes and learning outcomes.
Without a qualifications framework, comparing qualifications would be much harder to do clearly and consistently. Learners could face greater uncertainty when planning progression routes, employers could find it harder to interpret the level and relevance of qualifications, and the recognition of foreign awards would become less transparent and more complex. The MQF, therefore, plays a central role in making education understandable. It supports progression, strengthens confidence in qualifications, and provides a shared language that benefits learners, employers, providers and public authorities alike.
Further information on accredited programmes and their MQF levels is available through the Malta Qualifications Database managed by the MFHEA.