The government this morning signed a memorandum of understanding with Dubai tourism and hospitality school The Emirates Academy, as part of efforts by the Institute of Tourism Studies to offers students a wider range of subjects.

“By signing this memorandum of understanding we will in a better position to offer our students the opportunity to choose more varied courses that reflect today’s tourism industry,” Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis told the Times of Malta following a press conference at the Institute.

The signing of the MoU, he said, was only the first step adding that the government would be working closely with the academy to have the two institutions working together soon.

The minister said that while the ITS was succeeding in training students, the requirements of the industry were constantly changing and it was high time that to acknowledge that more was needed in this regard.

“We cannot expect the industry to grow without having a skilled work force. Through this collaboration with a world-class academy, we not only hope to reach students in a local context but we also hope to become a centre of excellence in the Mediterranean,” he added.