Education System
Explore the dynamic education system at South Europe College, designed to empower students for success in a changing world.
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
SEC education system is based on a complete online student-centered pedagogy that follows a constructivist learning approach. Students can access their courses through the internet from anywhere. This online education model provides students with learning resources supervised by qualified lecturers worldwide. This approach provides students with better flexibility when studying and completing their learning successfully. This constructivist learning approach relies on a set of ongoing progress assessments required from students throughout the whole process of teaching and learning. For some programs, students are also required to complete a final self-study dissertation where they explore topics related to their field of study.
All academic and administrative teams must have experience in using online education tools. We also train new staff to ensure they are well prepared for their tasks. We have dedicated quality and IT support departments that support users to ensure a high-quality service.
At the beginning of each course, instructors provide a syllabus defining course details. Students will have a 24 hours access to all scheduled asynchronous activities, such as video lectures and assessments. In addition to that, the student will have access to synchronous online supervised contact hours. Students Support in terms of academic and technical affairs will be available for students 24h through the system.
In order to track the number of hours (as per definition of the ECTS) and activities which are carried out in the virtual learning environment, SEC system provides online lectures (covering all required contact hours for each course) followed by short exams and assignments required by all students. The system can identify if a student has attended the online lecture. It also automatically opens and closes corresponding assessments set by the instructors. Moreover, the system has online synchronous virtual classes (covering all required practice hours) where a list of attendees is stored. Online videos are used as a mode of delivery and to ensure that the overall quality of the is achieved and maintained, SEC applies an ongoing evaluation, monitoring, and review, we apply key performance indicators, surveys, benchmarking, and measurements to ensure that the overall quality of the product is achieved and maintained.
SEC uses Student’s Information System as an SIS, Moodle as an LMS, and Zoom as a virtual classroom. Moodle LMS is used as a virtual learning environment that hosts and implements course activities. It enables instructors to communicate with students, allowing instructors to create and deliver course content, monitor their students, and assess student progress. The student’s Information System SIS is used to manage student records, registration, admission, and reports. Also, it’s used to manage the university programs, courses, and structures. Virtual classrooms Zoom is used to enable live synchronous communication between instructors and students.
The Technical Features Which Will Be Used and the Technical Requirements for Students to Be Able to Access the Virtual Learning Environment
The technical features which will be used and the technical requirements for students to be able to access the virtual learning environment are composed of internet-based learning systems, internet-based virtual meetings, secure login/access to student’s account, camera, videos, slides and e-materials. Students need to provide a computer with a compatible web browser and video tools, a connection to the Internet, an e-mail account, and speakers/microphones to record and hear audio from a computer.
The Data on Students’ Interaction in the Virtual Learning Environment Are Going to Be Collected and Used for the Development of Both the Programme and the Virtual Learning Environment
The SIS and LMS provide management of our student data from admission to graduation and beyond. They also offer a comprehensive system for course design, course delivery of knowledge and skills, assessing students’ involvement and progress, and managing transcripts and grade reports. This centralized managing framework provides insight into all records and grades to enable data analytics which will be used to evaluate the efficiency of the tools and help in improving the development of both the program and the virtual learning environment.
Privacy and Security
SEC provides mechanisms for students’ security and privacy both online and offline by building students’ privacy rights, requiring re-authentication and enforcing the users to set only strong passwords, implementing the access control based on roles, applying Encryption/Decryption of sensitive data, E-learning system security and protection from Cross Side Scripting, SQL code injection, virus/trojan files, URL injection, search engine protections, password cracking, and protected web indexing, monitoring all user activities, and protecting the server and infrastructure and providing a secure backup plan.
Admission Requirements
1- Bachelor’s Degree
Candidates should submit official transcripts from a European undergraduate three-year initial degree or recognized equivalent at EQF/MQF (Level 6 – 180 ECTS minimum).
Foreign undergraduate bachelor’s degree from outside the Malta equivalent at EQF/MQF (Level 6 – 180 ECTS minimum) is accepted. Where transcripts are in a language other than English, candidates should submit original transcripts accompanied by approved English translation.
2- Proof of English Language Proficiency
Candidates should submit one of the following proofs of English language proficiency. IELTS: minimum score 6.5 or TOEFL Minimum score 81 IBT, 213 CBT, or 550 PBT. Proof of English proficiency will be waived if last degree at a school where English is the primary medium of instruction.
Tutor Support
SEC provides tutor support to all instructors regarding their teaching resources, technical support, personal needs, development, and administrative and financial matters.
The Academic Department leads the tutor’s activities and manages the delivery of the courses in addition to evaluating the outcomes. Academic Departments must hire qualified tutors who have experience in virtual learning environments. Handbooks and guides are always available for tutors in addition to training and support are provided to all tutors to ensure a high-quality learning experience is provided to students.
The Administration & Finance Affairs provides all essential administrative and financial services to the tutor, including the salaries, logistic services, training, personal development, travel assistance, and other human resource services.
The E-Learning Technology Unit supports tutors in running their courses through the online systems by providing all necessary guidance and support.
Student Support
The Student Affairs Unit plays a student support channel that connects students with the faculty and administration. In addition to the academic department’s responsibilities in delivering an excellent learning experience, the Student Affairs Unit integrates all other educational services and provides students with comprehensive support services to overcome all students’ needs.
The Student Affairs ensures that learners have the required learning resources and support to complete their program requirements successfully. It aims to simplify procedures of students’ services during their studies, guiding them to the right services and supporting their academic and personal needs throughout their studies at SEC.
For maintenance and development purposes, the E-Learning Technology Unit works as a support team that runs, manages, and maintains existing SEC online systems. E-Learning Technology provides technical instruction guides and inductions to students and instructors. At the same time, the Business Solution Unit provides significant enhancement and improvements to the online environment.
Tutor Competencies
The success of SEC mainly depends on its staff, regardless of their role. The personnel development programs enable the SEC team to have the relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies. The SEC human resources is taking part in the training, workshops, and other personal development activities organized to ensure that the SEC teaching and administrative staff have gained new skills and experience to improve academic education quality. In addition, the SEC teaching and administrative staff must be engaged in the groups of expertise and analysis and have participated in different internal and external assessment processes.
Staff development refers to all the practices, procedures, and policies used to develop the SEC’s staff’s knowledge, skills and competencies to improve the efficiency of the employee and the college.
Pedagogy
SEC education system is based on comprehensive online learning, where students can access their courses through the internet from anywhere. This online education model provides students with learning resources supervised by qualified lecturers worldwide. This approach enables students’ better flexibility when studying and completing their learning successfully.
SEC applies a student-centered pedagogy that follows a constructivist learning approach, where students are at the center of the learning process. Students must be participative and active, and the teaching process starts with online lectures followed by a practice of knowledge and tutorials between instructors and students. Moreover, this constructivist learning approach relies on a set of ongoing progress assessments required from students throughout the whole process of teaching and learning. For some programs, students are also required to complete a final self-study dissertation where they explore topics related to their field of study. This project is a chance for each student to focus on one subject in-depth with support and guidance from a faculty advisor. This type of pedagogy encourages discussions and critical thinking between all the learners and the instructors.
Interaction and Communication
Students’ progression is based on their academic progress and performance to complete the program. All learning resources and coursework activities are available to students through the online learning system. Students can access their grades to see all their grades and academic progress. Academic advising is also available to all students to ensure students success and that all graduation requirements are completed.
SEC teaching system will ensure that students are the core of the learning process. Learning will take place by providing a syllabus, weekly recorded lectures and resources, online meetings for tutorials, and ongoing weekly coursework and assessments, in addition to general seminars related to the subjects conducted for students. For some programs, students are also required to complete a final self-study dissertation where they explore topics related to their field of study. Learning feedback from students is continuously collected to be considered for the achievement of course delivery.
Instructional Resourcing
In addition to the online learning tools, students are also provided with a Program and course description, student online handbooks, online recorded lectures, live tutorials, PowerPoint slides prepared by the instructors and additional related materials such as textbooks and research papers. All program and course specifications are available on the SEC website, including the program and course learning outcomes, grading policy, ECTS credits, required materials, and assessment methods. All program/course specifications are designed to suit the online nature of course delivery.
Assessment
SEC teaching system will ensure that students are the core of the learning process. Learning will take place by providing a syllabus, weekly recorded lectures and resources, online meetings for tutorials, and ongoing weekly coursework and assessments, in addition to general seminars related to the subjects conducted for students. For some programs, students are also required to complete a final self-study dissertation where they explore topics related to their field of study. Learning feedback from students is continuously collected to be considered for the achievement of course delivery.
All types of academic cheating and dishonesty will be subject to this policy, including plagiarism, cheating during exams, cheating during assignments, copying the work of others, and any kind of offense and dishonesty.
All work submitted by students will be checked automatically by the internet and checked and verified by the assigned instructor.
The consequences for academic dishonesty, plagiarism, cheating, and any other forms of dishonesty can subject a student to academic warning, failing an exam or assignment, failing a course, or suspension from the program (temporary or permanent).
Archiving
SEC shares public information about the college, programs, courses, admission, and policies via its internet website. Personal information will be collected from every student who applies or enrolls in SEC through the admission application. Only the same student and the assigned staff will be able to view the collected personal information. Throughout the course progress, marks, coursework, and grades will be collected for each student to be added to their academic record. These data will be accessible by only the same student and the assigned staff members. Students’ data may get collected through internal surveys and assessments to be used for quality improvement purposes by SEC. These students’ names, surnames and academic records for the purpose of issuing academic transcripts or certificates shall be kept for a period of 40 years. SEC keeps students’ records for archiving purposes, including personal, financial, and course achievement records. The Student Affairs Services are responsible for the implementation of the archiving tasks. Staff who create, receive, store and use records will ensure that all records are managed following the Information and Records Management Policy. The Archives will:
- Acquire and preserve records produced by students, faculty, and alumni.
- Arrange those records and make them accessible following established archival standards.
- SEC will ensure that archiving student records and files meets the college’s requirements and external legislative regulations.
- All electronic copies of completed and withdrawn students, including qualifications, results, and statements, are retained for a minimum of forty (40) years from completion.
Review
SEC applies a continuous learning evaluation process. The overall goal of learning evaluation is to determine the effectiveness of the SEC learning environment and whether the existing course delivery methods are successfully achieving the delivery of intended learning outcomes. Learning Evaluation is applied to ensure the efficiency of the programme specifications, course learning outcomes, course materials, programme design, and the learning environment. In SEC, learning Evaluation is continuously conducted at programme/course levels through student surveys, tutor surveys, student achievements analytical reports, and knowledge progress assessments based on learning outcomes.
SEC applies quality monitoring and reviews periodically, covering the programme content, policy, and requirements. This procedure aims to ensure that SEC achieves the required learning objectives. This review is based on inputs coming from students’ progression and relevant collected data and evaluation reports. As a result of these ongoing reviews, SEC can improve its learning resources and programs.
SEC utilizes the Plan-Do-Check-Act quality technique (more details inside the IQA and Policies Document) to ensure the implementation of high-level quality learning resources.
General Assessment Methods
By gathering evidence of student learning, we apply various assessment methods to obtain effective feedback on students’ course performance. The assessment methods, including formative and summative, are used to directly analyze student behaviors to demonstrate how well the student has mastered the intended learning outcomes and skills.
Through the learning management system, faculty members collect evidence of student achievements as part of the course learning requirements, including assignments, short quizzes, exams, oral presentations, essays, reports, case studies, and research projects.
Grading System
All SEC programs apply a student-centered approach based on the learning outcomes and the determined assessment methods. All units are graded on a scale of 0% to 100% (0-100 marks) which is described in the following marks and grades.
| Grade | Marks |
|---|---|
| A+ | 95% – 100% |
| A | 80% – 94% |
| B+ | 75% – 79% |
| B | 70% – 74% |
| C+ | 65% – 69% |
| C | 55% – 64% |
| D+ | 50% – 54% |
| D | 45% – 49% |
| F | 0%-44% |
The Following Table Shows the Average Marks of the Master’s Degree and Their Classification:
| Classification | Marks |
|---|---|
| Pass with Distinction | 80 – 100% |
| Pass with Merit | 70 – 79% |
| Pass | 50 – 69% |
| Fail | 0 – 49% |
Strategy to Combat AI Plagiarism
SEC defines a standard of integrity that applies to all students registered in the program. This policy will be informed and applied to all SEC students before they are enrolled in the courses.
All types of academic cheating and dishonesty will be subject to this policy, including plagiarism, cheating during exams, cheating during assignments, copying the work of others, and any kind of offense and dishonesty.
All work submitted by students will be checked automatically by the AI tools and checked and verified by the assigned instructor.
The consequences for academic dishonesty, plagiarism, cheating, and any other forms of dishonesty can subject a student to academic warning, failing an exam or assignment, failing a course, or suspension from the program (temporary or permanent).
Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Copying from physical or electronic sources as if it is one’s own.
- Paraphrasing materials without proper citation.
- Reusing previously submitted assignment.
- Availing third-party service and submitting it as one’s own.
SEC uses Turnitin software to ensure that students’ submissions are compliant with the university’s standard of having less than 21% similarity to other sources.
Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Having unauthorized notes or information during examinations.
- Communicating during examinations.
Students proven to have committed plagiarism or cheating offenses will be subject to the following penalties, depending on the level of offense:
- Verbal warning.
- Failing grade for the particular coursework.
- Temporary or permanent course suspension.
- Cancellation of examination.
Furthermore, SEC implemented a secure access learning system based on two-factor authentication using face recognition to ensure students’ identity.