A group of 15 students from the Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Crafts in Ghajnsielem are in Austria on an eight-day trip which will see them visiting Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and the Czech Republic on the first student exchange programme the centre is following.

The students, who are studying lace, candle work, thread filigree and traditional gold embroidery, are being hosted by the Landwirtschaftliche Fachschule Freistadt boarding school in Austria and are being given a unique opportunity to learn about the cottage industries and other traditional crafts carried out in these areas. Students will have the possibility of further exchanging ideas and learning more about marketing techniques employed overseas for the improved exposure of local artefacts.

The visit, the Information Department said, is to be reciprocated by a group of 17 Austrian students who will be visiting Gozo in May.

The Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Crafts is undergoing extension work through an EU co-funded project that also includes the construction and setting up of a Crafts Incubation Centre. In the last two years, the centre has also benefited from the European Social Fund, with additional courses organised for the first time in Gozo. Currently, there are more than 1,100 students of all ages benefiting from the educational opportunities on offer at the Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Crafts.