Foreign EFL student numbers in Malta slightly drop in 2018

The number of international students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) attending English language courses at local licensed English Language Teaching (ELT) schools dropped by year-on-year 0.1% in 2018, to 87,112, according to recent figures published by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The majority of EFL students arrived from Italy (27.0%), followed by Germany (11.5%) and France (10.2%). The top three countries accounted for 48.7% of total students.

The largest share of language students arrived from the age group of 15 years or less, accounting for 34.2% of the total student visits. Students aged 50 years and over were in the minority and numbered 6,159.

Unsurprisingly, July was the busiest month for local licensed ELT schools with 20,330 arrivals, constituting 23.3% of the annual total. June and August delivered 11.7% and 10.8% of total visitors, respectively.

International students enrolled in local licensed ELT schools spent a total of 215,252 weeks in Malta. The average length of stay during 2018 also dropped slightly by 0.3 to 2.5 weeks, according to NSO statistics.

With an average of 11.0 weeks, students from Colombia recorded the highest average duration, followed by South Korean and Turkish learners with an average length of 7.9 and 6.4 weeks, respectively.

Teaching staff in local licensed ELT schools numbered 1,028. The 18-24 age group cut the most significant slice of the pie with 33.1%.

The full report including charts and visual representation of data is available for download at the website of NSO.