The growth of the services sector in Malta has created a niche for highly-skilled employees in information technology, computing and in a variety of science-related fields. The marked shift from high volume manufacturing to high value-added industries has reopened the debate on, and highlighted the need for, highly-skilled workers. Many sectors, particularly those in the pharmaceutical area, have been experiencing a dearth of suitably qualified people in possession of advanced degrees.

Last month, this newspaper quoted the president and CEO of Actavis, a leading pharmaceutical company, as saying that one of the major problems faced by his company, not only in Malta but also in Iceland, was the difficulty to find highly skilled personnel.

The growing need for people with Masters degrees and doctorates in certain fields has resulted in companies being unable to expand and carry out the desired level of research and development. The statistics certainly back this argument.

Earlier this week, statistics released by Eurostat, the official statistics agency of the EU, showed that at just under 0.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Malta has the lowest research and development expenditure in the European Union.

Malta also has one the lowest percentages of R&D that is financed by the business sector – 19 per cent. In comparison, 80 per cent of R&D in Luxembourg is financed by the business sector.

Looking at the underlying reasons for this, we can come to two conclusions. First, there is not a very strong R&D culture in Malta. Most of the research is done at the University of Malta. However, even here, probably due to a lack of funding, the level of research is still very low. Second, and this ties in with the theme of the leader, is the lack of suitably qualified people to carry out research.

Although the university has a population of nearly 12,000 students, the bulk of graduates come from the faculties of arts, or economics and management or law. It is therefore not surprising that the government has created a number of incentives to encourage students to take up science and IT courses.

What we lack, however, is a greater number of students who further their studies in science subjects. More than 2,500 students graduated this month but how many will be taking up masters and doctoral studies in the science, in ICT and in computing?

Taken in context, the Eurostat figures are not surprising because to have a decent level of R&D you need people to do research.

The EU’s goals in research and development, as set by the Lisbon Summit Strategy, are to achieve by 2010 a R&D intensity of at least 3 per cent for the EU as a whole, and to have two thirds of R&D expenditure financed by the business sector. It will take a massive effort on the part of the local authorities, the university and the private sector to boost current levels of R&D in Malta.

There are three options to address the problem. First, the university needs to encourage and offer incentives for students to take up post-graduate courses in science and related areas. But to achieve this it needs more funding. Increasing the amount of EU funding for research could be an important source of revenue. Here, the government can help even more.

Second, there has to be greater synergy between the university and the private sector. One cannot do without the other and, in spite of the rhetoric over the years, there is still a wide gap between the two when it comes to collaboration.

Third, the government should also look at the possibility of employing highly-skilled people from abroad. An economic migration policy, as suggested in a white paper earlier this year by the Malta Business Bureau, could help to create a strong R&D base of experts who, in turn, could help train many of our graduates who are leaving university.

In a globalised world, Malta cannot afford to fall behind. If we want to attract high-quality services companies to Malta, we have to be in a position to provide a skilled workforce.