When the going gets tough, the thoughtful should think more deeply. They review their plans and strategies to carry them out in critical detail and revise as necessary. The going is certainly getting tougher and the government would do well to review its approach.

Whatever Malta does is not going to influence in any way what happens overseas and the resulting consequences on our islands. But neither can we sit back and suffer it. The government is not doing that. Developments abroad have made it commit deep mistakes, like the way it implemented the changes in the water and electricity tariff system.

Yet some of the measures it took were well thought out. They included help extended to some exporting manufacturing companies caught up in the global recession, but which seemed able to overcome the short-term effects with the assistance of the authorities. It remains to be seen whether the public funds allocated to that purpose were well spent.

So far the government is sure of that. The Prime Minister mentions one or two companies which appear to have ridden the tide, have made or are making new investment and have moved from a four-day week back to a normal working week, with accompanying hope of increased employment.

The sustainability of such short-term recovery will depend on what happens to the demand for such companies' products, and to the inevitable competition for it. Nevertheless the government was right to intervene directly where it was convinced that the effort and resources poured in were worth it. Where the authorities were not so right lay in not making public the details of what was going on.

Looking further ahead the government speaks of a basic objective to turn Malta into a centre of excellence by 2015. All fine and well, but what does the government mean by that?

The point was taken up earlier this month by Joe F.X. Zahra. Mr Zahra is a practising economist of repute. He sports a CV which speaks for itself, including early experience at the Malta Development Corporation, directorships of prestigious companies and eight years as chair of the Bank of Valletta. Delivering a presentation on "Malta and the global economic recession - the impact on investment and employment and preparing to reset the economy", among other things he said the following:

"It is...very positive that the government has set 2015 as a year targeting excellence in a number of socio-economic spheres including education, information technology, innovation and enterprise. There is no place for being 'average' in the world we live in. We have to strive towards improved decision-making, behaviour and action. Competing in today's global economy necessitates a drive towards excellence in all we think, say and do.

"What is lacking in this journey towards 2015 is a series of objectives, milestones, goals and targets for each excellence sphere. Essentially, can we quantify what we mean by excellence in innovation, in education? What is expected from the social partners to state that we are progressing towards a state of excellence? How can we know where we stand if the parameters and goals are not articulated or defined? Do we have a road-map?

"To the words 'competitiveness' and 'excellence' which are being intermittently used today, I will add a key-word, 'value-added'. Perhaps what we should aim at is a 'value-added economy' which concentrates on margins above costs to ensure net gain and profitability. It is not a matter of how much the government is spending on health and education; what matters is the net return of this investment in society, in the improvements in quality of life.

"This is why we need to look at our education sector. So far it is coping with the requirements of society and business. The government has responded perfectly well to the demands of industry in various spheres including aircraft maintenance and information technology. MCAST is proving successful. But the challenges on this route are hard and varied. It is a fact that we need to lure a larger section of youngsters into further and higher education.

"Malta still has a high proportion of early school leavers in the EU, 40 per cent in 2008 compared to 14 per cent in Europe. Much more needs to be invested in this direction - the University of Malta needs to modernise and update its corporate governance system, it needs to strengthen its autonomy and independence, it needs to invest more in academic and applied research. The government must have this uppermost on its priorities. Academic and vocational institutes and colleges are to be attracted to Malta within a robust licensing and quality assurance infrastructure. This is direct investment in Malta's only resource that makes us competitive - people."

Wise words. The Finance Minister would do well to take them into account in preparing his 2010 Budget, not least by coming up with some specific benchmarking.