Given its importance to civil society and the economy, it is little wonder that education is always at the top of the civil and economic agenda. It is inextricably linked to the economy – a country cannot make sound economic progress unless its education system is very closely linked to the actual and forecast needs of the economy in terms of the human resources, who are always a key factor in economic activity.
And society cannot be rounded and fulfilled unless there is a good educational system in place, giving citizens from their childhood the educational ‘consumption’ they must have for personal and civic satisfaction.
The present Education Minister, Evarist Bartolo, has contributed strongly to the agenda in his years as Opposition education spokesman. He is now in a position to do something about it.
A lot has already been done, starting with formal identification of shortcomings in education, again sharply confirmed by the far less than satisfactory Matsec results, just out. Much more needs to be done.
At all levels including the tertiary, where the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology is complementing the University of Malta in an effort to reach all sectors, more emphasis needs to be placed on vocational education and closer attention paid to the quality of those who will benefit from full courses of tertiary education.
Given the focus the Education Minister has sought to bring to this important sector, one can understand his chagrin at the botched start of the SkolaSajf, after years of smooth running. Within five weeks he will know from an independent investigative unit – after months of being assured that all preparations were in order – who was responsible for the scramble.
That is important. More important than that is the priority given to the continued reform of the system.
A country cannot make sound economic progress unless its education system is very closely linked to the actual and forecast needs of the economy
The reform carried out so far may not be enough, but it has been years in coming, to give previous Nationalist education ministers their due. One such reform was the linkage of University and Mcast courses to the needs of the economy. One of those linkages saw the first beneficiaries graduating this year.
In 2011 the Department of Pharmacy at the University launched the Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Technology (Hons) to meet the needs of the pharmaceutical industry. This year the first group of graduates has successfully completed the course and achieved the knowledge and, partially, the skills required to contribute in different pharmaceutical settings.
This degree, it was emphasised to those interested in it, opens a wide range of job opportunities, ranging from working in a laboratory to carrying out tests and doing research, to taking care of the regulatory aspect of medicines, among possible job opportunities.
The BSc Pharm Tech (Hons) is a three year full-time course which combines both the theoretical and practical aspects of the subject. Apart from attending lectures, each year students have the opportunity to spend an eight-week placement in different areas of the pharmaceutical sector to gain hands-on experience and apply the principles learned during lectures.
In the third year of the course, students may opt to carry out their placement in a European country as part of the Erasmus project.
This is the sort of link-up that is required. For such link-ups to be successful students must be well prepared at all levels, which is why the minister’s attention to the early levels of education, among other things, is welcome.
Much more needs to be achieved. All the stakeholders, who include excellent teaching personnel, have to be motivated to apply their best efforts to do it.