The first students of the new multi-million Libyan institute at Ta’ Ġiorni have just completed their studies as the higher vocational institute is ready to double the intake. The director of the Libyan Higher Vocational Institute Centre of Excellence, which is the first of the sort outside of the North African country, yesterday said the institute was going through a historical moment that was giving new life to the building.
Speaking at the first conference held by the institute about upskilling and training, Mahmoud Sawani said the institute wanted to provide research opportunities and enrol its courses within the Malta Qualifications Framework so that its training would be recognised abroad.
Last September, Malta and Libya signed a deed for a €22.4 million investment in the centre open to international students.
There is an urgent need for continuous training and lifelong learning
In the following months, around 100 students sponsored by the Libyan government started courses managed by the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, at the Libyan institute.
The group completed their studies last week and although the institute will be completely refurbished in the next five years, the administrators are working on establishing accreditation for its own courses in welding, IT, electronics, manufacturing engineering and leadership and management for public administrators.
From October, it will be able to accommodate 250 students.
Speaking at the same conference, Libyan Minister for Labour Mohammed Swalem said there was an urgent need for continuous training and lifelong learning.
A theme common throughout the discussion was the need to update the skills of the labour force to satisfy the needs of the industries. Employment and Training Corporation chairman Clyde Caruana said a common problem in Malta was that the skills of the available pool of people did not match the job opportunities generated by the economy.
Continuous training was important to attract investment within the country and with Malta having the third lowest European average of the number of years that students spend within educational institutions, there was a high need to train people. It was important to train workers while still within employment so that they would not find it difficult to shift from one workplace to another.
ETC will from next year invest some €15 million annually in EU funds until 2022 in training and employment initiatives, Mr Caruana said.