Government to keep close eye on university spending

The government would be keeping a close eye on how spending was made by the university next year, and a review would also be made on how the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology was managed, Education Minister Louis Galea has said in parliament.

Speaking during the budget debate, Dr Galea reacted to the opposition's criticism saying one had to be suffering from amnesia to say that Nationalist administrations only went from one failure to another in the education sector.

Funding on particular programmes had been reduced because those programmes had been completed or investment did not need to be as strong as before, such as in the case of IT.

Reference had been made to youths, and he would say that this was a budget which supported young people. The budget included measures to attack unemployment, measures to assist sports and education, measures to aid the environment and the pensions reform process, among others.

Some Lm1.3 million were being dedicated to sports in the budget, but another Lm200,000 from the lottery fund were also to be directed to sports activities.

Next year's priorities were the national sports complex near Karwija and agreement on a public-private partnership formula for the development of a sports complex in the north of the country. This would conclude the network of national sports complexes.

Dr Galea denied that funding to the Employment and Training Corporation was being reduced in real terms.

The ETC, he said, would be providing new training courses for the unemployed and the budget included a wealth of job-creating initiatives and incentives, such as assistance to industry, tourism and SMEs, measures under the employment plan and other specific projects. There were also incentives for those who worked part-time and women who returned to work.

Dr Galea said there was a lot to say on the government's plans for science and technology. A good feature was the positive attitude being shown by the constituted bodies towards research and innovation. This attitude could be profitably tapped in the setting up of a new organisation to spur all sectors of the Maltese community. A focal point in this exercise would be the Malta Council for Science and Technology, which would be strengthened so that it would no longer feel it was on the periphery of Maltese industry.

Turning to education, Dr Galea said education was being put firmly within the competitiveness framework and the Lisbon Agenda to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic economy by 2010.

In Malta, the situation in education was far better than the opposition made it out to be, although much remained to be done.

The percentage of 16-year-olds who left school had been reduced from 57 per cent in 1999 to 34 per cent this year.

The percentage of 17-year-old students in post-secondary vocational schooling had risen to 17 from six per cent in 1999, and the percentage in post-secondary schooling in general was 50 per cent, up from 36 per cent in 1999.

Forty-four per cent of 19-year-olds were now in post-secondary, vocational or tertiary education, up from 31 per cent five years ago. There were almost 8,300 students following evening courses held by the education ministry .

It was estimated that 26 per cent of 22-year-olds had followed a university course.

The percentage of female students at the university had risen to 58 per cent this year from 37 per cent in 1987, with the highest participation, 72 per cent, being in the pharmacy and nursing courses.

Dr Galea said recurrent spending on post-secondary education would reach Lm20.7 million next year from Lm14.4 million five years ago, figures which excluded the Institute for Tourism Studies and the stipends.

The university budget was being increased to over Lm10 million, but the government expected to know in detail how the funds would be spent. No one should think that the government would just throw money at the problems. As the Chalmers report said, the university's problems were more structural, managerial and organisational than financial, and it was those which needed to be attacked, Dr Galea said.

Recurrent expenditure for the university had risen from Lm1.5 million in 1988 to Lm11.3 million next year, apart from the huge capital outlay made over the years.

Figures up to 2002 showed that Maltese spending on education was 6.2 per cent of GDP, a higher rate than the five per cent of the average of the then EU 15.

Turning to Malta's participation in EU education programmes, Dr Galea said nearly 2,374 persons had participated in the programmes, through which Malta received e5.5 million from the EU.

Dr Galea said he still did not know how the MUT had said that 80 per cent of the curriculum proposals had not been implemented. Substantial progress had been made in the implementation of the curriculum and the funding allocation was being made according to the education department's capacity to implement those measures next year.

Progress had been made, for example, in quality assurance and the development plan of each school, performance management and professional development. An external audit would start in 2005. Matsec and the inclusive education programme were being reviewed.

Had progress not been made, how would one explain the improved performance in the Junior Lyceum entrance exams and Matsec?

Dr Galea said MCAST had filled a void, but another look had to be taken at it for it to be managed better. There needed to be more accountability.

Dr Galea noted that according to the leader of the opposition, the government should remove the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools. This would mean a curse on the project which would see all state schools modernised to the desired levels.

Plans for next year included the conclusion of the Karwija school and improvements at the Higher Secondary, Adelaide Cini, schools in Gozo, several primary schools and the building of new schools.

The career guidance sector would be further strengthened next year, building on the work being done among the Education Division, ETC and others.

Referring to the complaints made about funding to the Foundation for Education Services, Dr Galea pointed out that the foundation was also receiving funds from the European Social Fund.

The minister said truancy had to be further attacked, and his idea was to set up a task force with this aim early next year. The process on the reform of the education sector in general would be continued, and a consultation document would be published next year.

Earlier in the debate, David Agius (PN) observed that opposition speakers were complaining about reduced funding for varous areas. Yet the leader of the opposition was calling for a three per cent cut in government spending, excluding some areas which did not include education.

The government had also been accused of failure in the education sector, this when the number of university students had climbed from 800 under Labour to 8,000 now.

Focusing on sports, Mr Agius said the Maltese people should make increased use of educational and sports facilities in schools and other places.

It was important for bodies such as the Malta Sports Council and the Malta Olympic Committee to redouble their efforts, not least in the promotion of sports nurseries.

The government's proposals to help youths continue their studies were important steps for the country's future. The same could be said for the ETC's proposed training course for unemployed people. These would prove who wanted to work and who did not.

Mr Agius said the budget for 2005 was giving education all the importance it deserved.

Joe Cassar (PN) focused on the activities of the Mata Council for Science and Technology saying this was a unit which the Labour government had never dreamt about. This year the council was concentrating its work around a number of activities including the promotion of a culture of science and technology as a means which would lead the country to a higher level of competitiveness.

The council also had an important role as Malta sought to achieve the targets set by the Lisbon Strategy.

The council had worked within the EU's sixth framework programme. Sixty-six entities had submitted proposals to the European Commission under the programme and 17 were accepted.

The council had also set up the innovation relay centre and was collating statistics on science and activities in Malta.

Clyde Puli (PN) said the government's incentives for women to return to work were in keeping with the belief that work was the best therapy for most problems the country could face.

Indeed, this was why the government believed so strongly in having a Social Pact. But with agreement on such a pact not having been reached, the government had been forced to take steps on its own.

This was a budget based on achieving competitiveness. One could not expect Malta to compete with such low wage countries as China and India and the focus was therefore on the creation of quality jobs by the private sector.

Attractive conditions for foreign investment in Malta did not depend solely on the government. The potential investor needed a ready source of skilled employees, which could only be brought about by better education. This explained the increased vote for investment in education.

Training should be continuous in order to remain in step with changing times. Was the opposition unable to recognise the improvements brought about in education over the past years, including enhanced access to university as well as many other initiatives including the setting up of the ETC and Mcast?

Another aim of the government was to attack abuse, as well as reviewing parts of the welfare structure which amounted to a disincentive for certain people to work.