Mcast, private ICT providers, give students another chance

N. Aquilina

Jan 5th 2010, 23:01

@ John Doe

If from what I see in the comments is right you are competing alone, if MCAST is not capable of educating students for industry.

But I think you forgot to mention that during Imagine Cup 2009, UOM DREW with MCAST ICT students but on no VALID GROUNDS the competition was won by UOM...
As they say: il-huta z-zghira qatt ma kielet il-kbira!!!

Pierre Caruana

Jan 5th 2010, 21:34

@John Doe
I am an MCAST student and I felt somewhat stunned at your inadequate comments. Your stereotypical and narrow-mined way of thinking is what I would refer to as ‘lower level’. Apart from clearly disrespecting MCAST students, by bluntly referring to us as lower level students, you show that you are unable to accept new experiences to develop your evidently meagre teamwork skills. Life is a challenge not a competition and definitely snobbism is not the way to go.

Jesmond Micallef

Jan 5th 2010, 19:36

Repeaters..........mmmmmmm .......interesting !!!

I was also a repeater once or twice or trice................ Once my father died right in the middle of my exams, another time was when a close none blood related family member of mine was politically murdered in Malta while I was still at Technical College, another time when I was put down as a looser and low performer then my other fellow students.

Today, I speak 4 languages, have lived and studied in England for 6 years, successfully completed a course of Private Pilot training in the USA and now doing my 7 year in Germany.

Not bad for a repeater, right........!!!!!!

To all so called "Repeaters" : Don't ever give up, no matter what the "crowd" says, you are individuals, unique people like myself, don't give up. Look at your own "failings" with stamina, they make you stronger, beleive me they do. You will build a character which is unbeatable, simply unbeatable.

With my best wishes.

Jesmond Micallef

Jan 5th 2010, 16:37

Go for it MCAST students !!!

With my best wishes.

Kevin Zammit

Jan 5th 2010, 15:59

@I. Camilleri
Just to clarify as well.

By thinking out-of-the-box does not necessarily mean pure creative invention (which quite honestly I still have to see in my 20 year career) but at the very least having the ability to make educated decisions, have the initiative without requiring supervision, work responsibly and have the self confidence to conduct yourself in a business like manner as befits your profession no matter what the situation requires.

I think that sort of attitude would be hard to achieve by someone without formal training and the instinctive need to prove themselves. Psychologically there will always be that nagging feeling that the other party is better than you and has the paper to prove it ... am I getting too close to home?

I am quite frankly very dissapointed with the irresponsible attitude of many young maltese professionals. While not generalising my personal experience so far is that out of every 5, 3 come over with an attitude towards their responsibilities. Somehow (and for the life of me I cannot in the slightest fathom what gave them this impression based on a few square miles of rock!) that they are owed a cushy living.

Kevin Zammit

Jan 5th 2010, 15:48

@I. Camilleri

It is very unfortunate that your comment betrays exactly what is wrong with individuals that either lack a university level of education or are coming out poorly trained which is something completely different and arguable yet deserves merit, if indeed that is what you are referring to.

You have made an assumption and declared a truth based on generalisation ... that is the kind of thinking that I would definitly not want around me on an IT project.

When you make a statement you should base it on proof especially in computer science ...

I'm not sure what exactly misled you into thinking that I agree with you, so let me clarify further:

while I or any other entrepreneur, manager etc. can re-utilize a university trained individual who in turn will have the solid background to action, plan and re-search new avenues having someone who has no solid academic background but plenty of experience in just one or maybe two operations is not very usefull and an over inflated opinion of him/herself. Add to that the added disadvantage of a small market and the rest would be a pitifull pool of poorly trained resources.

Karl Falzon

Jan 5th 2010, 15:31

@R. Galea

University ICT students are taught problem solving skills, computer science theory, and have a solid foundation of mathematics. Specific technologies and programming languages (such as those taught in an MCAST vocational courses) are second nature to university ICT graduates. Thus, uni graduates will not become stale over time, because it's the theory and problem solving that's important and not whether you know a particular technology or not. Technologies and languages can be easily learnt just by reading books or tutorials on the Internet.

You can brag about 'doing more work' all you like, but its the quality of the work that's important and not the quantity. University ICT graduates are hired for their knowledge and problem solving expertise, not to perform trivial and repetitive programming tasks. And with regards to work experience, most ICT university students work part-time and in summer in the ICT field, so that argument is null and void.

I agree that a person should be given a second chance, but only if he or she truly deserves it.

I. Camilleri

Jan 5th 2010, 15:14

@Kevin Zammit
I agree fully with you, but most people think that you must have a university degree to be able to “think outside the box” but I can assure you that all the university graduates I know do not do that (I know there are plenty of university students who do, don’t get me wrong). My point is that one does not have a qualification to be qualified for a job… not too hard of a concept to understand
@R. Galea
There are idiots at MCast, at university and everywhere you go! Likewise there are smart people at mcast and university. It is up to the individual to maximize his/her potential and show what you are capable of.
General Note: not everyone who does not continue their studies does so by free will.

A. Borg

Jan 5th 2010, 14:58

These private providers are being depicted as heroes for taking the students for "free"..... one should know that these were paid millions of euros from our own money to take up students for the last 2 years... so why all this fuss for taking them over... as a private school, is it an honour to say that you have repeaters in your school?

re bel

Jan 5th 2010, 13:41

@ J. Darmanin & J. Pace
Thankfully i never had to resit any exam and yet I don’t think its unfair for students who pass on the first attempt that other students have another try.

If they do not have the chance to resit, it means 2/3 years (according to the course) down the drain! Maybe the student was a bit agitated during the exam, maybe he/she got excellent result in most subjects then failed just the one!

I am not being biased but i think that they ALL deserve a second chance!

R. Galea

Jan 5th 2010, 13:39

@ John Doe

Are you actually saying that University Students are better than MCAST Students? Let me assure you that they are not! I studied at MCAST while friends of mine studied the same subjects at Uni, and I can definately tell you that I got more work done (especially practical work) then any of them. Not to mention work experience. I agree with students being given a second chance (all students however). There is such a thing called a Resit. Uni students should definately know what that is.

Kevin Zammit

Jan 5th 2010, 13:00

@I. Camilleri

No university has ever promised to produce geniuses but I guess what you mean is that a university degree level is not always required.

That is a fallacy put forward by either those that are too lazy to commit themselves to further their education or those that have a larger than life ego.

University degrees show that a person has the capacity to learn and the discipline to carry out effective work within his/her fields of study. Courses such as those provided by MCAST provided training in industry standard methodologies and tools ... that's another speak for formalising pick up the user manual and get on with it.

From an IT industry perspective if you want a run off the mill developer or tester yes you are right, you do not need a uiversity degree. I was hoping that as a people we would have better ambitions than that. Besides there are countries that are providing hundreds of thousands of such resources for much cheaper and most with post graduate degree levels of education.

What we need are highly educated individuals trained to think out of the box flexible, reasonable and aware of their mortality and fallibility.

J. Pace

Jan 5th 2010, 12:57

What a joke. Apart from all the other comments, one should question what is the real value of the BTec certificate for the industry in Malta. Politicians want to see numbers and this is a clear example. But how many students really end up working in the industry? Very very few and I am sure of this. The others have just wasted 2 years or more of their lives and they were simply victims of all the hype that surrounds the ICT sector and Smart City.

Furthermore, if I was a student and passed my assignments in the first try, why would another student that was given multiple chances to pass, would have THE SAME certification as mine?

John Doe

Jan 5th 2010, 12:07

I am a university student and there is a competition that every year the UOM has taken part in and won every one, it is called the imagine cup. http://www.imaginecup.com this year we were told that we MUST to work with these people from MCAST to even get a chance to travel to Poland to compete against the world. So now its just showing that us University Students MUST work with people who are at a lower level than us which can lower our chance of winning. This is unfair for all of us, because we can put in X amount of work at a certain level while the other one who wouldnt understand these algorithms will have to do less work.

J. Darmanin

Jan 5th 2010, 11:44

i'm actually not surprised about such discriminatory behavior from the Mcast side. If these students were not able to pass the first time round, its extremely unfair on the students that actually passed.

I. Camilleri

Jan 5th 2010, 11:27

@Kevin Zammit

Cause University graduates are real geniuses right? Its not the level of education you have, it’s the individual which makes the difference and this is overseen a lot by people…

re bel

Jan 5th 2010, 10:08

What about the other students who were not accepted? I thought ALL students have a right to resit for their exams/ assignments!
This is DISCRIMINATION!
I would appreciate an answer from MCAST officials, so that my boyfriend (one of the students declined) can get on with his life and not wait for MCAST to decide his future! He has been waiting for an answer from MCAST since last summer, he was told not to bother with applying for a new full time/ part time course or a job as it might clash with his resit. If he is not accepted he would have lost the chance to apply for a new course!

Kevin Zammit

Jan 5th 2010, 09:48

So what exactly will all these students do after they get their second chance and succeed?

They have no experience whatsoever, not exactly a university degree and apparantly they're having a hard time managing that as well. Add to that a promised basket full of eggs labelled 'smart city' ... very smart island.

The attitude that one big major enterprise would create the impetus needed for Malta's software IT industry is now clearly very late and wrong.

As well all this hype on gambling companies is another trap due to its ethical and financial issues that their mother countries contest. Besides while their turnover is high they require few employees.

Not at all lost. What is needed are numerous small entities some of which would eventually grow. The country has to first attract this sort of investment both locally and from abroad with real money and aid. Instead of giving away millions to one enterprise what the government should do is attract small start ups from abroad with hard cash.

There are many examples of such companies in Malta. In fact the largst software companies on this island have all started small and without anygovernment aid.