It is abundantly clear that Malta's premium resource remains in its own citizens. Limited in size and isolated from mainland Europe, our journey of sustainability, development and success has always hinged on our keen sense of adaptability, resourcefulness and continuous search for opportunity. Many Maltese in the spheres of science, medicine, education and commerce are witness to this unrelenting need to succeed in the face of limited financial and structural resources. The last 20 years have borne economic success and an environment of political stability. This has, in turn, led to a boom in education. This boom has fed the hungry appetite of the emerging and relatively new industries of communications, science and technology. These industries today form the backbone of our industrial output and the basis for continuous foreign direct investment.
This government is now moving on with its ambitious plan for education. For a very long time, tertiary education has enjoyed the limelight. Be not mistaken, making tertiary education the darling of the educational process has served its purpose. One should not forget that the educational engineering or, rather, experimentation during the 1970s and 1980s had driven Malta into a corner. This led to a dearth of qualified professionals in a myriad of specialisations.
The drive to re-invigorate our University has served its purpose. Furthermore, the re-institution of Mcast has reacted to the expanding need for specialised sectoral education and training.
And now we are moving on to phase three. Change and globalisation may today be considered hackneyed words. However, they will remain the constants in an increasingly rapid process of economic, social and cultural transformation. On this basis lies the commitment of the Malta Qualifications Council. The central aim of this council is to make, as much as possible, full use of our human resources. So far, this human capital remains scattered and, as such, not fully understood. There remains a lacuna in the understanding of potential learners, employers and the public of the full range of qualifications available and how different types of qualifications can improve the skills, competences and the quality of the workforce.
Essentially, the MQC is aiming to provide a benchmarking platform that will provide standards of quality assurance, validation and certification in the provision of vocational education and training. This exercise will provide a policy that should develop guidelines to help potential learners, training providers and industry to achieve excellence.
These standards should help address a number of pressing issues. Among these are the changing needs of our industries and workforce, increasing competitiveness and rapid deployment of assets.
This is a very ambitious plan. Beyond the apparent need to standardise "hidden" skills, non-formal learning and experience in our workforce, it should also motivate and encourage the process of life-long learning. Eurostat statistics indicate that a mere 5.5 per cent of the Maltese population are involved in life-long learning (2006). This is below any European average. The process of life-long learning should address not only employability but also personal enrichment. Furthermore, the process of continuous education should address a suspected obsolescence in the training of people who may have stopped updating their knowledge once having graduated, some of them 20 or 30 years ago!
I believe that beyond the framework, this process will require the cooperation not only of government institutions but of many non-governmental organisations, foremost trade unions, the Church, sports organisations and youth groups. It should be made clear that this process should aim at raising the standards upstream. One hopes that the process will not focus on the apparent but ambitiously aim to motivate those semi-skilled workers to improve their standards and, in turn, exploit to the limits any skills available, in the process raising their economic and occupational expectations.
MQC has set itself a four-year timeframe. Success in this project should enhance Malta's image as a centre of excellence and continue to improve our chances in attracting more premium work to the islands. I wish them well.
Ms Galea is a member of the executive committee of the Nationalist Party.
caroline.galea@gov.mt