The country needs an educational system that gauges teaching and individual capabilities by means of a national qualifications framework, which will help increase mobility and education opportunities for everyone, said the Education, Youth and Employment Minister Louis Galea yesterday.
He was delivering the opening speech at the national consultation conference regarding the European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET), by means of which vocational qualifications may be transferred, saved and recognised.
Minister Galea said the system will create a synergy between academic and vocational education in higher education.
ECVET was introduced in Copenhagen in 2002 and proposed as a European system in Maastricht in 2004.
While a number of Europeans follow courses and training in places outside their native country, obstacles and limitations exist regarding recognition of courses in different countries.
In this sense, ECVET provides a good tool for exchange of information that may lead to easier accessibility to both formal and informal education and training.
Consultation on a European level is under way at the moment, so that the system may develop in the best way possible.
Dr Galea said the active participation in consultation processes on both ECVET and the national qualifications framework should lead to an improved quality in the educational system.
He said that although the EU is not obliging member states to join the scheme, the majority of institutions will be doing so, as happened when the European Credit Transfer System was introduced.
The vast majority of universities in Europe make use of the system, which is instrumental in facilitating student mobility between universities.
The government’s ambition is for Malta to serve as a centre of lifelong learning, vocational learning and training.
This requires flexibility and courses and training must be planned in a manner that may improve the domestic economy and attract investment from the Euro-Mediterranean region, he said, adding that Malta has the potential to reach this aim.
A national qualifications framework based on the European system and a credit system in every level of the education system will make the country attractive in terms of education on a global scale, said Dr Galea.
The national conference involved the participation of various social partners in the education sector, including educational institutions, student organisations, unions and employers.