MCAST and Crane Currency today signed a Memorandum of Understanding.        

MCAST and Crane Currency will collaborate to support Crane Currency by training and skilling up its workforce in order to meet the demands of the security printing industry, and develop training packages that are relevant to Crane Currency to address its internal training needs. In addition, Crane Currency will offer apprenticeships for MCAST students.

Currently, MCAST Principal Stephen Cachia said, MCAST offers a printing course which has around 131 students.

MCAST President of the Board of Governors Silvio De Bono said that when the preliminary agreement was made to bring Crane Currency to Malta, MCAST was tasked with increasing the number of students undergoing the printing course. He said that the industry was stagnant, but things changed once this company came to the island, and that students noticed opportunities for work within the sector.

Crane Currency’s Vice President of Human Resources Scott Smith described this MOU as an important step forward as their facility is being built. Through meetings with De Bono, he said, they built a framework of cooperation to fulfil the needs of the expanding workforce.

Economy Minister Chris Cardona was present at the signing, and stressed that Malta is going through an economic transformation, giving rise to new sectors and demands on the workforce. “Maintaining productivity and employability in the face of such changes is essential to ensure continued economic growth.”

He stressed that the direct participation of employers and workers, with government and training providers, can ensure the relevance of training and workforce productivity. “These two worlds construe demands on each other and need each other to thrive.”

Events like today, the minister said, guarantee that successful skills policies are constructed.