With a figure of just 45.5 per cent, Malta is still far off from this target. However, a lot is being done for this aim to be reached, Education Minister Louis Galea told students yesterday.
Dr Galea was participating in a debate on campus during a careers convention organised by the University Students’ Council and AIESEC, one of university’s largest student organisations. The debate was about bridging the gap between education and the world of work, and also whether Malta’s education system was preparing students for work.
Dr Galea said that with 45.5 per cent, Malta was still far from the target of the Lisbon Agenda to have 85 per cent of 22-year-olds who would have completed a higher secondary education by 2010. This shows how much the education system in Malta still has to grow and develop and how much more needs to be done in the near future so as to improve this figure, he said.
He insisted that an education system that simply prepares students for examinations is not good enough for people who want to work and who are really interested in working. Therefore, it is obvious that the education system has to be changed, giving students an all-round education to prepare them more for the world of work.
Dr Galea also spoke about the importance of tapping business opportunities through the Malta Enterprise and of helping students with good business ideas to start their own businesses. He said a job is not there for life, so education is important to ensure job mobility. Moreover, through education, people can develop their talents and skills and also be given the right guidance for a career.
He said the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology is attracting thousands of students, adding that this college, as well as the Employment and Training Corporation and the university have to be developed further to cater more for today’s competitive world of work.
Opposition spokesman on education Carmelo Abela said that through education, citizens are giving their contribution to the country. He insisted that the number of students at university, even though much better than it was in previous years, has to continue increasing in order to have the human resources the country requires.
He said there are many graduates who are not working in a line of work that is directly related to what they studied at university and this was resulting not only in underemployment because they could do more but also in a mismatch of skills.
Mr Abela insisted on the need of guiding students on possible future careers from a tender age, even at primary level, so that when they grow up they would be able to make a more informed choice.
Mario Mallia, from Alternattiva Demokratika, spoke about how the students and the decision makers both have to make an effort and work hand in hand to provide the country with the human resources it needs. He added that the Maltese education system was giving more importance to some things rather than others.
The careers convention at university is an annual student-driven event, organised by students for the welfare of the students themselves. Its aim is to provide the students with a wider perspective of the working environment, thus enabling them to link their studies with their future careers.
The activity has taken the form of a fair, in which various private companies as well as other public entities are participating. These include PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernst & Young, HSBC, Bank of Valletta, the Employment and Training Corporation, Startup Malta, MISCO, the General Workers’ Union and the Union Haddiema Maghqudin. A large number of students from various secondary schools and sixth forms have visited the fair on campus which closes today.