The University of Malta should have closer ties with industry to cater for the latter's needs, Education Minister Dolores Cristina stressed yesterday.

And while the synergy between the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology and industry was strong, it had to be built up further based on past achievements.

"We need a permanent structure to foster business-to-education links," she said.

Speaking during a meeting for directors of European lifelong-learning agencies, Ms Cristina said the immediate demands of the marketplace had provided the strongest impetus towards considering continuous learning as part and parcel of an employee's development.

She said one of the main challenges society faced was the ever-changing technology scenario that called for new training and work practices, adding that lifelong learning was high on the government's education agenda.

She pointed out that the acquisition of knowledge should not be looked at as the accumulation of memorised detail, but rather as a vehicle for gaining more knowledge in the future.

"Like the learning process, knowledge is a means to an end, but not an end in itself," she said.

Ms Cristina said the mindset for lifelong learning should be formed early - in the family, within the community and at school, adding that it involved skills to develop different methods of learning, to assess, evaluate and even criticise the information that the person is being given.

"Lifelong learning is based on the concept of learning to become a complete person."

Giving an overview of local figures, Ms Cristina said the number of students pursuing lifelong learning courses went up from 9,000 in 2002 to 17,400 students two years later - 5.5 per cent of the local population. This figure is thought to have increased by 17 per cent since.