Italy and Russia have emerged as the most popular target markets for the training and education sector in Malta, while France was identified by most as an upcoming market.

Germany and Brazil were also popular and promising markets.

This resulted from a study on the internationalisation of the training and education sector in Malta, undertaken by Trade Malta as part of a series of studies on the sectors deemed to hold particular promise for export and internationalisation.

Some of the main findings of the study are:

• This is a relatively young sector, with 80 per cent of the companies surveyed being in business for less than 35 years.

• The majority of the companies are SMEs, with a turnover of less than €500,000 per annum.

• 85 per cent of the companies surveyed had 100 per cent Maltese ownership, pointing to a sector which is largely “homegrown”. The outlook for the sector is good, with half of the companies expecting a growth in the number of employees and the other half expecting to retain the same workforce.

• Nearly half the companies also expect growth in their exports in the coming year.

• ‘Quality of courses and training programmes’ is the most important success factor for companies in the sector, followed by ‘price competitiveness’. Other success factors specific to the industry are ‘supporting services’ (lodging, location etc) and ‘internationally recognised accreditation’.

The greatest barrier to internationalisation was said to be cost of market visits and trade fair participation, closely followed by problems in obtaining visas for students.

Individuals interested in obtaining an electronic version of the report on the study should contact Trade Malta on: info@trademalta.org.

The report can also be downloaded from Trade Malta’s website http://www.trademalta.org/publications.