Which areas need fresh graduates?

The prime minister has rightly stated that education is one of his greatest priorities. He also urged parents, in no uncertain terms, to encourage their children to continue with their education as long as possible as this was the best assurance for increasing their employment prospects.

However a number of fresh young graduates and those contemplating on joining the University are becoming a bit confused. On one hand they read the Prime Minister's encouragement and on the other hand they read how at least 50 Institute of Health Care graduates, covering a whole spectrum of health professionals, are having difficulty finding a job.

Joining them in the queue of graduate job-seekers are a number of B.Ed graduates, especially in certain non-science areas. They meet law graduates who, although not without a job, are far from satisfied with the opportunities available. It is true that some of the new graduates have no patience to wait for a few months. They have not yet formally received their degree - graduation week is held later this month and they are already frustrated.

Some of them are also expecting exorbitant salaries. It is said that a new graduate in the science area asked for Lm14,000 a year for a job for which the candidate still needed a good amount of training. Fresh graduates are advised to keep their feet on the ground.

Yet the lack of employment in the health field brings out a number of commonly asked questions: Why were these new graduates in the health professions given an extra stipend specifically to encourage them to join these courses? Some have taken up these health-related courses rather than some other courses of study because they had indications that the country had a dire immediate need for such professions. Who is making the calculations?

When will fifth and sixth formers be informed in which areas the country needs more graduates? Who is going to make the necessary announcements? Do we need many more health professionals, considering those already in the pipeline? Why a numerus clausus of 15 in Physiotherapy and an alternate year's intake in Occupational Therapy and Communication Therapy, no numerus clausus for Medicine and Pharmacy but much higher grades to join the medical course? On what grounds is this pot-pouri of entry requirements and restrictions decided?

How many more teachers do we need and in which areas? If medical doctors are the graduates who are finding immediate jobs can we support better the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery? How can we attract more students to engineering? It appears that the subject of mathematics is the biggest hurdle to develop our engineers. How can we boost up the teaching of mathematics?

How many translators and interpreters do we need and in which areas? How can we attract persons to this field without overproducing? Do our guidance teachers have enough data and information to guide our youths towards the more needed professions? Without becoming purely utilitarian and introducing again concepts of sponsoring and parental impositions on the selection of areas of study, how can we best satisfy the country's interests and those of the new graduates?

These questions require an answer sooner rather than later. We cannot keep urging students to join certain courses rather than others and then tell them, four years later, on graduation that we are still studying whether they are really needed by society.

The University, the Ministry of Education, future employers, the employment agencies and the student bodies themselves have a lot of homework to do and a lot of statistics to gather and study to present the best solutions to our graduate employment dilemma.

The present publicity given to the unemployment of teachers and the health professionals sends the wrong views and messages to those who may have started contemplating positively on taking up the Prime Minster's correct advice to further their studies.

It would be a pity if our youths are given the wrong impression that they are encouraged to take up tertiary education not to swell unemployment figures. This is a very sorry message because more tertiary education is essential for the survival of our country. Grey matter is one of the few raw materials available in Malta.

Let us support the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education in putting education at the top of our priorities.