Anyone going through San Ġwann industrial estate has surely noticed the work being carried out to build the Life Sciences Park.

90 per cent of employers in industry feel there is a skills gap- Maria-Liza Scicluna

The park, a €20 million investment with the University of Malta and Mater Dei Hospital, will form part of the Bio Malta Campus. This hub will enable the development of the knowledge-based economy, specifically in relation to the life sciences.

Yet after this huge investment, will Malta have enough skilled personnel to fully exploit this resource? Employers and academics constantly highlight the problem of a skills gap and brain drain in Malta, but there is no report about these issues and their effect on the sector.

I have recently carried out surveys and interviews with students and employees in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and ICT sectors as well as leading individuals from academia, in­dustry and government entities.

Some results worth highlighting were the following:

• 90 per cent of employers in industry feel there is a skills gap. Of these, 60 per cent attributed it to the educational system not matching industrial needs and 18 per said said it is because not enough students take up further studies.

• The life sciences industry is a highly skilled one, with 33.1 per cent, 15.3 per cent and 4.9 per cent of employees having an undergraduate, masters or doctoral qualification respectively. In Malta, only eight per cent of the working age population has a university degree.

• Half of the employers find it difficult to find enough local recruits with the required skills and knowledge, thus 56 per cent resort to employing foreigners.

• Within the next three years, the assembler, engineer, senior scientist and lab analyst workforce in industry is expected to increase by 11 per cent, 44 per cent, 52 per cent and 62 per cent respectively.

• Overall, new recruits have some of the skills and knowledge required by the industry, but few have enough. Probably, the most worrisome fact is that more than half the employers and employees feel that new recruits lack an awareness of new research, development and upcoming technologies, as well as business management skills.This not only reduces employee efficiency but also the probability of generating new businesses.

• In 2007, only 44.5 per cent of 15 to 24-year-olds attended school, compared with 59.4 per cent in the EU. In 2005, a mere 8.5 per cent of University students were studying science and an additional 7.5 per cent were studying engineering, manufacturing and agriculture. Of these, only 34 per cent were women, regardless of the fact that there are more women studying in the University overall.

• Only about 40 per cent of B.Sc. (Hons) Biology and Chemistry students choose to work in the industry. While 54 per cent of graduates from this course move on to postgraduate studies, half opt to study overseas. From these, about 56 per cent choose to remain abroad.

In future, the skills gap will be much bigger than it is now, especially in the life sciences sector. Of course, this will greatly depend on the direction taken by the country.

However, given that the government has already invested €20m in the building of the Life Science Park, the growth of the biotechnology sector is not unlikely.

The fact that the Biotechnology for Health Unit at the University obtained a €4.5m grant to upgrade its facilities, including the Bio Bank, continues to give hope for growth within this sector.

The Malta Council for Science and Technology is working on creating an Interactive Science Centre to entice more interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects and the Education Ministry has launched the ‘Entrepreneurship through Education Scheme’ to give students business skills from an early age.

Yet the most determining factor – offering students attending government schools the option of studying biology or core science rather than take physics as a compulsory science subject, is still being discussed.

Today, only 18 per cent of government school students at secondary level study biology compared with 57 per cent of those in Church schools.

A further problem the country has is retaining its skilled personnel. The study conducted shows that about 56 per cent of science students who take up postgraduate studies abroad remain overseas, the main reason being lack of opportunities locally.

As a result, Malta is losing a large percentage of its best scientists. Since 2009, Malta Enterprise has created over 30 incentives to encourage industrial growth and research and development. However, this is not enough. Post-doctorate positions at the University may be a key to retaining this skilled local workforce.

Courses at the University, particularly the biology section, need to be modified. Students need to be offered more modules related to biotechnology. Similarly, mechanical engineering students need bioprocessing and separation techniques modules, while ICT students need bioinformatics modules.

The skills gap and brain drain in the biology sector are real issues. Malta already has a good educational base on which to build. Moreover, people’s mentality towards further education is continuously improving.

Yet there is still a lot of work that needs to be done if the country wants to become a knowledge-based economy with biotechnology as one of its main areas.

As difficult as it may be, if the government provides the necessary direction and funding, and education is further enhanced to meet industry’s needs, then Malta can create a skills base strong enough to support a biotechnology sector.

Ms Scicluna’s M.Sc. degree was made possible following the award of a STEPS scholarship, part-financed by the EU – European Social Fund (ESF) under Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2007-2013, ‘Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life’.

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