The Budget will continue pumping money into the University of Malta and Junior College, with an allocated €72 million; an increase of 13 per cent over 2013.

The Government will aim to strengthen the University by drafting a contractual framework which will help long-term planning and sustainability.

This will enable the University to plan ahead as opposed to being left in the dark, waiting to learn of the Government’s contribution each year.

From this year, the State’s boys’ secondary schools will be offered experience in vocational education where classroom learning will be amalgamated with practice in Mcast’s workshops. The vocational experience will be certified by Mcast so that students can advance from secondary school to Mcast without completing the Foundation course.

An Employability Index will offer more guidance to students entering Mcast and University on the choice of jobs available for the line of study they choose. This measure should help address the issue of skills mismatch in the economy.

The Institute of Tourism Studies is also rolling out a new course in collaboration with Malta Enterprise and the Employment and Training Corporation, titled Foundation in Tourism Studies.

The course aims to equip students with the necessary skills to open their own business or become employed within the tourism sector. Each student from second year will be offered a work placement in the industry to acquire experience and training.

Next year will see the introduction of a youth guarantee. The initiative aims at helping young people who have left formal education find a job or acquire training.

According to EU statistics, youth unemployment is on the decline – yet this assurance is not enough, Prof. Scicluna added.

It is estimated that through the first guarantee, around 350 youngsters who are inactive or searching for a job will benefit from individual attention to integrate into the labour market or start an educational course – €2m is being dedicated to this project.

National spending on research and innovation amounts to 0.72 per cent. This will increase to two per cent by 2020. For this purpose, a National Strategy for Research and Innovation 2020 will be rafted out.

A number of scholarships for post-doctoral students as well as a placement programme will be offered to Maltese researchers in international institutes of research.