MCAST students encouraged to take up apprenticeships

The Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) is holding meetings with 700 students attending the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (Mcast) who are eligible to follow an apprenticeship programme as from next year.

During these meetings, the students are being informed about the benefits, rights and obligations involved.

The ETC is responsible for the administration of the apprenticeship framework. This involves the recruitment and placement of apprentices, as well as monitoring to ascertain that the structured delivery of training is taking place, followed by the final trade testing. The corporation also consults employers so as to ensure that the training delivered reflects the needs of the labour market.

Apprenticeship schemes are run on a dual system, where apprentices spend time at a vocational education institution for off-the-job training and at the workplace for on-the-job training.

At present the corporation has over 800 apprentices (up from 300 in 1995) placed with over 400 employers.

The corporation's data show that over 95 per cent of apprentices who successfully conclude their training are in full-time employment.