The Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) and Malta Freeport Terminals Ltd have signed a partnership agreement, hailed by Education Minister Louis Galea as heralding a new era of cooperation between employers and vocational education.

Under the agreement, the college will assist the Freeport with the running of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) for its employees. The NVQ awarding body is the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Affiliate (SEMTA) in the UK.

The Freeport's trainers will assist MCAST in the running of their vocational and reskilling programmes, cooperate with apprenticeship training, assist with the placement of sea cadets and offer access to its facilities.

NVQs are competence-based qualifications which emphasise performance rather than just theory and the participants will have to show that they have the skills and the necessary knowledge to do the job competently in various circumstances.

Dr Galea, who presided over the agreement signing, spoke about the importance of strong education-business links at all levels of education.

He said MCAST was designed with this in mind and today's agreement was another link in the chain of partnership agreements with local and foreign industries and educational institutions.

He said the college was now working on several other partnership arrangements and has already started discussions with a number of companies.

These partnerships, together with those made with foreign educational institutions, ensured that MCAST courses remained up-to-date and provided industry with the necessary human resources to remain competitive.

Dr Galea said the college needed to strengthen its structures to ensure that there was a constant and proactive search for partner industries and educational institutions.

"Only if every institute at the college has strong links with industry and employers can we ensure that our students get the highest level of training possible."