Busy Bee Training Institute is a licensed Further Education Institution dedicated to Food & Beverage programmes.

Our Mission: to enhance the competence of internal staff and the general public in the Food & Beverage industry.

Our Vision: to contribute to the development of quality in Food & Beverage service.

Our Values: excellence, integrity, innovation, teamwork, passion and respect which means improving continuously, acting professionally, taking on new challenges, acknowledging co-operation, performing with positive emotions, recognising dignity and diversity.

Commitment to quality

Busy Bee Training Institute operates the plan, do, check, act (PDCA) cycle and abides by the MFHEA 11 standards. The PDCA cycle is applied to: teaching and learning, management and administration.

• Busy Bee Training Institute has good academic governance and appropriate responsibilities as much as adequate policies and procedures as seen on website. All of this is reflected through learning and teaching with adequate assessment “of” and “for” learning including good student support. Busy Bee Training Institute checks these through its internal quality assurance consultant and through student and lecturers’ feedback. This is constantly enhanced through staff professional development, staff appraisals and follow up feedback on the students’ questionnaires and involvement of discussions and seminars created to keep up to date.
• Busy Bee Training Institute has a fit for purpose organigram which makes it financially sustainable with qualified staff and by allocating the right budget.

Responsibility for QA policy

Since Busy Bee Training Institute is a small institution, quality assurance is a shared responsibility overseen by the Directors, the Head and the quality assurance consultant. The success of a quality culture lies entirely with every staff member of Busy Bee Training Institute including the students and the stakeholders. The administration itself and other support services form part of this quality since they bear an essential part in supporting students in their studies and their learning environment. Related documents to the QA policy are all the other Policies and Procedures in place which cover all MFHEA 11 standards.

Admission and Progression of students

Busy Bee Training Institute contacts their staff directly for the continuous professional development accredited awards. There are no entry requirements for the Programmes since they are internal CPDs.
The Administration keeps all students records so that progression can be communicated to the student through email till graduation.

Assessment process
Assessment methods are both formative and summative and communicated beforehand to students by their respective lecturers. Assessment methods are overseen by the Head and Internal quality consultant for home grown courses.

Student feedback
Students receive a questionnaire about their programme of study depending on when their programme ends. The questionnaire is disseminated by the administration and received by the administration. All questionnaires are anonymous and serve as student feedback to Busy Bee Training Institute. The Directors and the Head discuss the questionnaire responses with the Internal Quality consultant and the result is communicated back to the students.

Awards review
The Award reviews are carried out every 5 years and include reports of the yearly ongoing monitoring. A calendar is set to indicate which programmes are reviewed per year. All necessary stakeholders are involved in reviews.

Student centred
Busy Bee Training Institute has a student centered system starting from the fact that all awards have their learning outcomes and credits and take great care of the workload spread for the student. Moreover, it has a Mitigating policy to support students in times of difficulty. Student centred is explained in more detail under Standard 4.

Student support and student representation in decision making

Several support services exist for the student. A student can always refer to these support services including guidance from the Admininistration. The best student support comes from the good relationship created between Lecturer and student. Lecturers also informally chat with students as part of the Busy Bee Training Institute culture to assist them in best way to learn.

Public Information

Busy Bee Training Institute has its own website for public information and also social media. All necessary information about the programmes including ECTS, credits and home-grown Awards are public information.

IQA yearly audit (internal)
Busy Bee Training Institute carries out a yearly Institutional self-assessment report under the guidance of the Internal Quality Consultant. This report is discussed by all staff and used to create any necessary Action plans. The Monitoring tools for quality assurance are:

• Minuted meeting
• Lecturer’s self-reviews
• Student questionnaires
• Focus groups
• Complaints and appeals
• Appraisal of (Lecturers and Admin)
• Calendar
• Self-Assessment report (SAR)

Standard 2 – Probity

Brief overview of individual roles

Directors

• Responsible for running and well-being of the Institute
• Ensuring both staff and procedures adhere to the Institute’s statute
• Looking for new business opportunities to improve the Institute and staff performance
• Reviewing and authorisation of all new member applications
• Meeting with staff members to ensure smooth running of office
• Meeting Complaints and setting up an Appeals Board

Head of School

• Responsible for smooth running of the office and ensuring deadlines are met
• Ad hoc duties as requested by Directors
• Looking after info email account passing on relevant information/work
• Signing of certificates

IT Department

• Updating website and co-ordination with Busy Bee Training Institute
• General ad hoc work requested by Busy Bee Training Institute

Administration
Responsible for-

• Reviewing, updating and improvement of Institute’s procedures and dealing with all queries related to same
• Reviewing and authorisation of all new certificates before passing for signatures
• Dealing with any prospective candidate’s queries
• Administration paperwork relating to attendees at Awards
• Ad hoc duties as requested by Head/Directors
• Opening new files for general correspondence
• Updating spreadsheets as requested
• Liaising with IT dept.
• Liaising with both students and tutors
• Keeping daily records of all sessions
• Sending invites for above sessions
• Preparing attendance sheets for tutors to update
• Liasing with Accounts
• Liaising with MFHEA

As regards to the academic area Busy Bee Training Institute currently manages the following
Awards:

MQF/EQF Level 1:

Introduction to Food and Beverage service
Bartending Operations
All programmes are carried out at the Central Business District Zone 4 Mdina Road B’Kara All Awards are found on the website: www.busybee.com.mt All Home grown Awards are based on the MFHEA framework as found in the MFHEA referencing report February 2016 pages 38,56 and 59.

Financial Resources/Management
Busy Bee Training Institute is a non-profit making Institute as described in the Introduction. The Busy Bee Training Institute is sponsored by the Busy Bee group in order to sustain the workforce of Busy bee with Continuous professional development through these awards.

Staff Recruitment
Staff at Busy Bee Training Institute is as seen in the Organigram with specified areas and functions for each area. Busy Bee Training Institute also employs qualified Lecturing staff and qualified administrative and technical staff. The staff is either handpicked but also meets the professional standards required for each job description and also through public calls if necessary. All roles of staff are found in the job descriptions as recorded in their personal files in the Administration section under the responsibility of the administration. Busy Bee Training Institute plans its academic calendar fluently and is prepared by the Administration as a Team and discussed with the Directors and Head before it becomes Public Knowledge on the website. The start and end dates are made available on the website.

Busy Bee Training Institute organises meetings twice yearly for interaction among the staff. Clear communication is as described through the Organigram and the functions of each area.  Busy Bee Training Institute also organises a CPD for all staff on a yearly basis under the co-ordination of the IQA consultant.

Standard 3- Design and Approval of Programmes
A demand for a design and creation of an Award can come from various stakeholders including the Industry, the professional community through Busy Bee, the lecturers, students or even the government. The demand will be seen by the Directors and the Head and channels the development of that demand accordingly. This might mean that the Head engages third parties as experts in the field to develop that demand into an award and finally submitted to MFHEA for accreditation purposes.

All resources required are also discussed internally by the Head and any other professional stakeholder in the field while the student questionnaire will also provide feedback on resources to include the student voice. Any Award will be looked at from an academic, strategic and resource view so the content is scrutinised to meet the appropriate level being suggested and must also be in line with the Busy Bee Training Institute strategy.

Busy Bee Training Institute also looks at the availability of space, cost , human resources and any other specific required resource to make sure the awards are sustainable.
Homemade Awards are built on the MFHEA framework . Busy Bee Training Institute uses ECTS based on 25 hours of total learning per credit out of which 5 hours will be dedicated to face to face.

Busy Bee Training Institute is not a self-accrediting Institution and Awards are either accredited by MFHEA or foreign accredited and recognised as such by MFHEA. This type of accreditation has many benefits:

a. MFHEA accreditation assures that a programme has met high quality standards set by the
profession;
b. MFHEA accreditation helps students and their parents choose quality Awards;
c. MFHEA accreditation enables employers to recruit well-prepared graduates;
d. MFHEA accreditation increases competitiveness of accredited Awards;
e. MFHEA accreditation facilitates the acceptance of students for international ;
f. MFHEA accreditation is important for the acceptance of the transferred students from other
Awards;
g. MFHEA and international accreditation ensures and improves the employability and
business relevance of the Alumni.

Every 5 years Busy Bee Training Institute will review the awards for enhancement purposes and also to be in line with Standard 10 of ongoing monitoring. A calendar is prepared by the Administration so that the reviews are carried out in the same year for all awards.

Standard 4 Student centred Learning, Teaching and assessment

Busy Bee Training institute applies the European student union (ESU 2009) definition of student centred: student centred Learning represents both a mindset and a culture within a given higher education Institution and is a learning approach which is broadly related to, and supported by, constructivist theories of learning. It is characterised by innovative methods of teaching which aim to promote learning in communication with teachers and other learners and which take students seriously as active participants in their own learning, fostering transferable skills such as problem solving, critical thinking and reflective thinking.’ Therefore, Busy Bee Training Institute respects and attends to the diversity of students and their needs enabling any flexible paths required. Different modes of delivery are considered where appropriate and so a variety of pedagogical methods are used. Busy Bee Training Institute evaluates on a yearly basis as part of the ongoing monitoring the variety of pedagogical methods. At the same time Busy Bee Training Institute encourages a sense of autonomy in the learner and that is also why the student has self-study hours which form part of the total learning hours. All Lecturers and students promote mutual respect between them for a good relationship and if there are any complaints both Lecturer and student have appropriate procedures for dealing with complaints.

Assessors are familiar with existing assessment methods and receive support through CPDs. The criteria for assessment are published in advance to the student to make assessment as fair and transparent. Assessment will indicate the ability of the student in having achieved or not the intended learning outcomes.
Indicators and guidelines for assessment:

1. Assessors are familiar with existing testing and examination methods at Busy Bee Training Institute for their respective course.
2. Busy Bee Training Institute complies with regulations and method of assessment as well as criteria for marking.
3. The assessment must allow students to demonstrate to what extent the intended learning outcomes (ILOs) have been achieved.

Since the programmes are built with competencies, skills and knowledge this is already student-centred learning. The fact that Busy Bee Training Institute applies ECTS is for the
benefit of the student and is also ideal for student mobility. Apart from students’ questionnaires the students are also involved in Focus groups to give feedback to continue creating a student-centred culture.

The Lecturer plans and carries out all activities including the assessment and gives timely feedback in the formative assessments. Summative assessments are carried out as indicated in the written module templates. Lecturers also give informal feedback to students out of the actual class.

Busy Bee Training Institute takes great care to be in line with the latest pedagogical systems and this is ensured through the yearly continuous professional development for all staff. The pedagogy includes different approaches like presentations, practical demonstration, case studies, direct lecturing, power points, recorded webinars, portfolios etc so that all students and their diversity will be able to cope with learning. Assessment is also varied and fit for purpose according to the intended learning outcomes. Busy Bee Training Institute applies both formative and summative assessment.

Standard 5 Student admission, Progression, Recognition and certification?

Busy Bee Training Institute accepts staff as students for these accredited CPD awards with no entry requirements .
The Administration processes the names and informs all students through an e mail including details of the course.
The Administration also processes all results and certification. Certificates are only given as a hard copy.

Standard 6 Competence of Teaching staff
All Lecturers chosen are one level up the Level they teach or same level with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in the subject matter.

Teaching competence:

1. Busy Bee Training Institute assures that those who teach have a full knowledge and understanding of the subject they are teaching.
2. Busy Bee Training Institute assures that those who teach have the necessary skills and experience to transmit their knowledge effectively to students.
3. Busy Bee Training Institute provides academic staff with opportunities to develop and extend their teaching capacity, and to improve their skills to a high level through a yearly CPD.
4. Busy Bee Training Institute also encourages through its culture other types of professional development, and encourages its academic staff to participate in:

a. Courses/workshops (e.g. on subject matter or methods and other higher education-related topics);
b. National and international education conferences or seminars (at which academic staff and researchers present their research results and discuss higher education problems);
c. Participation in a network of academic staff formed specifically for the professional development of academic staff in higher education;
d. Individual or collaborative research on a topic of professional interest.
The above can be taken as individual initiatives but need to be recorded yearly on the CVs of the staff as evidence of keeping up to date.

The Head carries out appraisals of all staff to determine all the above.

Standard 7 Learning resources and student support
1. Busy Bee Training Institute provides students with academic and general support to help them in dealing with possible academic problems, and to ensure that they can make progress satisfactorily through their awards.
2. Busy Bee Training Institute ensures that the resources available for the support of student learning are adequate and appropriate for each award
3. Busy Bee Training Institute ensures that the facilities for learning are used effectively.
4. Busy Bee Training Institute ensures that the academic staff is competent to, effectively teach, facilitate learning, and maintain a scholarly approach to teaching and to discipline.
5. Busy Bee Training Institute ensures that staff of all kinds namely: academic, support, technical and administrative fulfil the requirements of academic standards and strategies for learning and teaching.
6. Busy Bee training Institute ensures that students are satisfied with the environment where
they learn.
Administration informs students about any necessary learning resources (if required) while other resources are supplied by Busy Bee- examples: classrooms and wifi. Learning resources are determined through the Lecturers self-reviews and can also be through student questionnaires. The Management then will discuss any required resources to see any financial connotations.

Student support can be administrative or academic mostly and therefore the Administration will help in administrative issues even if there are payment difficulties while academic issues are supported by Lecturers and the Head of the Institute.

Standard 8 Information Management
The Administration collects and keeps data and profile of students example: Attendance, retention and success rates are part of the collected data.

1. Busy Bee Training Institute ensures that it collects, analyzes and uses relevant information for the effective management of its awards and other activities.
2. Reliable data is crucial for informed decision-making and for knowing what is working well and what needs attention.
3. The information gathered include key performance indicators (KPIs) example: student progression/success and drop-out rates, students’ satisfaction with their awards, learning resources and student support, career paths of graduates.

Busy Bee Training Institute actually collects:
Retention rate
Success rate
Attendance Monitoring
Graduation rate
Drop out rate
Work placements if any ( No work Placements)
Weekly hours of Lecturing staff ( administration)
Assessment patterns

Standard 9 Public Information

1. Busy Bee Training Institute publishes clear, accurate and up-to date information about its activities, including programmes on its website.
2. Information on Busy Bee’s Training Institute activities is useful for prospective and current students as well as for graduates, other stakeholders and the public.
3 Busy Bee Training Institute also uses various social media for public information about what is deemed fit to communicate especially with reference to the above points.

Standard 10 Ongoing Monitoring and Periodic review of Programmes:
Ongoing monitoring is carried out through the underneath tools and the yearly SAR is the report which presents the monitoring done on a yearly basis and what needs to be acted on to enhance the Institution.

Students’ questionnaires
Lecturer self-reviews
IQA Sampling exam papers and coursework
External Lecturers
Focus groups

Industry
Every 5 Years Programme Reviews
SAR

Standard 11 Cyclical External Quality assurance
Busy Bee Training Institute applies for an External Quality assurance through MFHEA every five years. The audit is carried out by a Panel engaged by MFHEA on the stipulated 11 standards. It is an Institutional audit. Following the report of the external audit Busy Bee Training Institute will create an action plan to meet the requirements which are fit for purpose.

Contact email: [email protected]