The eSkills Malta Foundation will carry out an eSkills Gap Analysis during the last quarter of this year, focusing specifically on the industry ICT skills gap. A number of studies have been undertaken throughout the year by several organisations and all have contributed to the under­standing that there is still quite a large skills gap between what the industry needs and what a considerable number of students and professionals have today.

Some of these studies have been made public and their findings can serve as an eye-opener of how hard we need to work to bridge the gap. Some of these skills are crucial for today’s digital economy.

The skills survey carried out bfor the NCFHE, Jobsplus and Malta Enter­prise in the first part of 2016 showed that according the the digital industry, most of their fully proficient employees still lack planning and organisation skills (67 per cent of respondents), team working skills (55 per cent), the ability to multi-task (45 per cent) and English language proficiency (45 per cent). The study cites other important skills shortages, including oral commu­nications, numeracy and multi-tasking skills, among others.

Another serious study carried out this year cited various skills gaps that are more specific. These include digital marketing, affliate marketing, networking and negotiating skills, data analysis among other specific skills.

The results of these surveys mean we must return to the drawing board and see what we are doing wrong in the training and education sector. This does not mean, however, that none of these skills are being covered in our education and training provision, but rather that there is not enough training and education to cover these gaps and subjects, and skills are not being tackled in the right manner in our training programmes.

While I believe in indirect training, I also believe that when studies indicate that there is a considerable deficiency in im­portant skills one must tackle this more specifically. A consider­able number of these skills must be directly or indirectly intro­duced at a very young age, possi­bly as early as primary school.

One may even go a step further and instigate a cultural shift in our home education to create the right spirit for such skills, like team working and oral communications.

While the skills studies carried out so far are very useful, they were not intended to delve deeply into the technical skills required. The eSkills Malta Foundation ICT skills study should be interesting to the industrial and education sectors because it will do just that. It will cover a suitable sample of a wide cross-section of companies operating in ICT, gaming, financial and insurance services, pro­fessional services, manufacturing as well as government.

The study will dig deeper into the technical and soft skills re­quired by these sectors. It will in­clude development tools and metho­dologies, mobile tech­nology, web technologies, cloud computing, platform tech­nolo­gies, DevOps, networking tech­nologies, big data, enterprise app­lications, ebusiness and digital marketing, call centre support, digital media, games develop­ment, and other complementary skills.

The study is being carried out in collaboration with FIT, an Irish organisation that has already carried out such a study in Ireland in 2012 and 2014. This collaboration will definately be of mutual benefit.

The foundation will also be seeking to analyse how these re­quirements are being catered for by the training and education sector. This will identify more specifically the ICT skills gap and the foun­dation will then be in a position to propose a number of proposals and policy changes that would benefit the industry and the country.

Through this study the e-Skills Malta Foundation hopes to instigate and offer for consideration, the expansion and change in the training and education provision as well as suggestions to the ICT industry. Upon completion, the ICT Skills Survey will be presented to all the relevant stakeholders and will also be presented and discussed at an public event so that stakeholders may contribute to the study.

Carm Cachia is CEO/executive coordinator at eSkills Malta Foundation.

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