It was good to hear Education Minister Louis Galea say that the number of 19-year-olds who decide to further their studies has risen by a staggering 27 per cent in the past six years, moving up from 43 per cent in 2001 to 70 per cent this year.
It means two things – first, that the young people of today have realised that it is extremely important for them to learn as much as they can before they enter the working world and, second, that the government is providing them with the opportunity to continue studying and the students are keen to accept it.
There was once a time when the university doors were open to a limited number of students; when at the end of their secondary schooling, students moved from private and Church schools to the ones run by the government to get 20 – later reduced to 10 – points more that made it easier to join a university course; when the number of courses available were a few and some, like the course for lawyers, did not even open every year; when a college such as MCAST did not exist. And this was only 20 years ago.
Since 1987, the doors of the university have been opened wide and the number of students that attend courses at Tal-Qroqq has risen rapidly over the years from a few hundreds to a few thousands. Today, all types of courses are available at university, and all those who have the necessary qualifications can join. The university is bursting at the seams in spite of the amount of new buildings that have mushroomed over the past two decades.
The government has also opened the Malta College for Science and Technology where, again, hundreds of students attend courses in business and commerce, engineering and tourism, to mention but a few.
Even here, the number of students continues to rise, with MCAST processing 3,000 applications for the coming academic year, which is 400 more applications than those submitted last summer.
The government has also announced plans for a Lm50 million (EUR116 million) project for the construction of a new campus for MCAST, to be completed by 2015.
The government’s investment in education is however not restricted to the tertiary sector, as millions of liri (euros) have been spent over the years to improve the quality of primary and secondary education, not only in terms of facilities but also in the way the education system has been reformed and is still being reformed.
By laying the foundations of a sound education system and developing it, the government has shown its commitment in the education sector, which is one of the three pillars on which the government said it wanted to construct the future of the country.
And, as such, this commitment encouraged more students to further their studies and the results speak for themselves.
More and more young people are realising that the more they study, the more they have the possibility to succeed in life in whichever area they want to pursue a career in. In a hugely competitive world, it is becoming increasingly necessary for young people to hold qualifications to find jobs.
One important factor that needs to be kept in mind is that students should be directed towards the areas where Malta needs most manpower. While we have reached saturation point in some areas of our professions, we are still lacking in other sectors that have grown and will continue to expand in the future, such as the pharmaceutical and ICT segments of our industry.
It is imperative that our education system is not only geared up to “produce”, but to “produce” qualified people in the areas needed the most.