Meeting future skills requirements

The National Commission for Higher Education (NCHE) recently hosted a technical workshop of the Skillsnet network to discuss 'Forecasting skill supply and demand in Europe'.

The workshop brought 47 delegates from Europe together and was held at the Aula Magna of the Old University in Valletta on October 15 and 16.

Skillsnet is a Cedefop international network on early identification of skills needs. The various projects undertaken by this network aim to assist and inform intelligent policy-making at a European and national level, by bringing together experts in the field of labour markets and education supply policies, to exchange information on new and changing skills in the medium to long term.

In her opening speech, Alena Zukersteinova, an expert from Cedefop, explained that the workshop in Malta follows a series of previous workshops held by Skillsnet, and continues to build on the publications of Cedefop, namely the 'Future skill needs in Europe' report of 2008, and the recently published Future skill supply in Europe'.

Cedefop is now working on a new project entitled 'Forecasting skill supply and demand in Europe', which in turn needs a system for projecting both skills demand and supply at a pan-European level and to explore implications of potential skills imbalances that may emerge from the findings.

The workshop was an opportunity to present an overview of the current research being undertaken in this regard, providing technical experts with the opportunity to discuss the implications of data being used in the models, to assess the initial demand and supply projections and emerging skills imbalances identified and to share views on improved methodologies for the coming years.

The workshop was opened by NCHE chairman Philip von Brockdorff, who said research on skills anticipation and the matching of labour market and skills needs is crucial and also serves to align education and training strategies with those of economic productivity and competitiveness.

Dr von Brockdorff also explained that Malta is contributing to this process through active participation in Cedefop by the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) and NCHE. "

As a result we have learnt of the great needs for each country to develop its own forecasting methods. It is for this reason that Malta needs to develop the capacity to undertake research on skills anticipation, and methodologies that address the needs of a small state as distinct from models and methods used for larger neighbouring countries."

Malta was represented by Edwin Camilleri from the ETC, Kirsten Miller and Amanda Borg from the NCHE, and Gordon Cordina on behalf of the Economics Department of the University.

More information on the workshop and related initiatives can be found at www.nche.gov.mt/skills.