Enrolments, course offerings and private sector training institutions participating in the information and communication technology training myPotential scheme have exploded over the last three years, Infrastructure, Transport and Communications Minister Austin Gatt said yesterday when inaugurating the third segment of the increasingly popular programme.
The myPotential scheme is a public-private-partnership between the ministry and leading ICT training providers – aimed at ensuring Malta has the hi-tech workforce required for future developments in the sector, such as Malta’s goal of becoming a centre of excellence in the area and the SmartCity project.
The scheme had kicked off in 2006 with five participating training providers – a number that has grown to 11 today, offering 82 different courses from Masters degrees to basic certifications.
In all, the last three years have seen 1.085 people completing different courses, with the government investing e3.2 million in subsidising such courses through tax credits. Last year, Dr Gatt said, the tax credit scheme was revised to make the schemes even more attractive. Following the revision, maximum amounts of tax credits for post graduate courses was raised from e6,988 to e13,976.
Students’ parents will now be able to have the tax credits deducted from their income tax of they were paying for their children’s courses.
“Over the coming years,” Dr Gatt commented yesterday, “the sector will find a proactive government aiming not just for numbers but rather for the quality and specialisations that the country will need.”
Stressing the need for specialised training, Dr Gatt added how from primary indications, the SmartCity project wills see the involvement of many niche companies, and that future skills needed from Malta’s workforce will not necessarily be of the mainstream genre.
Yesterday’s press conference was held at Computime, one of the myPotential private sector training providers. The company itself was also growing, yesterday inaugurating a new wing – enabling it to raise its growing staff complement from 75 to 100.