The Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology and De La Rue have signed an agreement to collaborate on new training programmes in printing and secure printing.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the MCAST Main Campus by Dr Silvio De Bono, president of the College's Board of Governors and Edward Chetcuti, director and head of Malta Operations De La Rue. Evarist Bartolo, Minister for Education and Employment and Chris Cardona, Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business of Malta also attended the event.
MCAST will work with De La Rue to develop training packages that are relevant for students and adults to prepare them to follow a career in the security printing industry. It will provide the academic and practical tutors to deliver the programmes and support students in achieving the necessary accreditation. De La Rue will provide the expert "on the job" knowledge related to the field of security printing to MCAST so that the agreed and developed programmes are relevant and validated. De La Rue will also provide access to manufacturing equipment that can be used for the practical training of the trainees.
De La Rue is the world's largest printer of banknotes and passports in the world and has a centre of excellence at its site in Malta where it employs 567 local staff. MCAST will work with De La Rue to help train and up-skill its workforce to be able to meet and exceed the current and future demands of the security printing industry.
Last year De La Rue and MCAST designed the Level 3 Diploma in Print which was launched in April with the aim to increase the skill print pool for the print industry in Malta and are also providing an accredited Level 4 Diploma in Security Print. Printing skills are core to many of the business areas in the Malta factory alone, so it is incredibly important to make sure employees have the necessary skills.
Edward Chetcuti, director and head of Malta Operations for De La Rue, said: "I am delighted to be partnering with MCAST to help deliver the training for our current workforce and the workforce of the future. Malta is a Centre of Excellence for De La Rue in currency and banknote printing and we have invested in new areas such as product authentication and identity. We need to make sure our staff has the skills to be able to continue to deliver excellence in these areas which are strategically important to the future of the organisation."
De Bono stated: "Today we add another important leading industry player to the list of MCAST partners. Our students will be provided with hands-on training in the latest best practices and technologies. One of our missions is that of ensuring that students have a simple trajectory between schooling and job."