The Nationalist Party has always believed that education should be the foundation on which to build this country of ours. Since 1987, after years of tribulation and strife in our education system, successive Nationalist governments have invested heavily to give our young people the best possible opportunities to learn.

The University doors were opened to accept those who had the necessary qualifications and who wanted to pursue the myriad courses that were gradually introduced. Shortly after the beginning of the millennium, the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology was re-opened to further expand the choices offered to our young people. Today, more than 18,000 students are following courses in these two institutions. The Institute for Tourism Studies is affording hundreds of our students the beginning of a career path in the tourism industry.

Our declared policy to offer students the chance to continue studying far beyond the obligatory school age is showing tangible results. Today, more and more young people are opting to delay their entrance in the employment world simply because they know that the more qualifications they have, the better the opportunities they will find. Education is, after all, an investment. And it is an investment for life. In terms of the number of students who continue studying at post-secondary level, we may still not have reached the goals we have set ourselves, but we are moving in that direction.

Education is one of the pillars on which the 2015 Vision endorsed by the Nationalist government is being built. As Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi aptly put it during his mass meeting address on the eve of Independence Day, human resources are the country’s greatest asset, and these resources must be nourished and taken care of in the best possible way.

This is why the government spends millions each year in our education sector. While other countries cut down on their education budget during the tough times, we continue to pump more and more each year in the belief that there is no limit to the investment that may be made in this sector.

This is why new schools are being built each year and other, and older complexes are being refurbished to meet modern-day requirements. This week, the newly-built Mosta (Zokrija) and Victoria government schools welcomed students for the first time.

This is why the equipment in our schools is constantly being upgraded to offer teachers the best possible tools with which they can make learning much more interesting.

This is why so many students are given stipends that encourage them to study without adding financial burdens on the family.

We are now going a step further.

Apart from the opportunities we have offered and are offering at tertiary level, the government has also established a scholarship scheme that enables graduates to go beyond their University degree.

The Malta Government Scholarship Scheme and the STEPS scheme have already helped more than 1,000 young people to follow up their University degree with further studies at Masters and Doctorate level. We started off with 33 in 2006, but the numbers grew each year – up to 71 in 2007, 207 in 2008, 351 in 2009 and 445 this year.

Top quality post-graduate education is of paramount importance in a knowledge-based society that is eager to meet the ever-growing demands of today’s globalised world. It is, after all, necessary to increase research and development activity in Malta, open up new fields of study and create an ever more highly-skilled workforce.

Malta’s success depends on its workforce, and as the country is moving away from low-end manufacturing to high-end industry, we need to have more people who are qualified in sectors that progressively become more vital in our day-to-day life.

These areas of specialisation include education, the environment, health, ICT and social science, all of them aspects that form part and parcel of the government’s strategy to make Malta a centre of excellence.

We have come a long way in our education sector. We must, constantly and consistently, strive harder each and every day to reach higher ground. And the best way to do it is to have a workforce that is highly-skilled, easily adaptable to change and prepared to face the challenges of a world that becomes more competitive every day.