eSkills foundation to create skills base for knowledge economy

Government launched the eSkills Malta Foundation that will see various stakeholders working together to jointly create the skills base and life-long quality growth required for a digitally enabled knowledge economy.   

Addressing a press conference, Edward Zammit Lewis, Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth, explained the importance of eSkills for Malta to have a thriving digital economy.

"For Malta to be amongst the most innovative and competitive countries, we need to nurture a strong and adequate work force equipped with the right digital skills. This is why government is launching the eSkills Malta Foundation. With its new scalable structure and its own resources the Foundation will be able to execute programmes and initiatives and can be more flexible and adapt to industry realities more promptly."

The eSkills Malta Foundation brings together government representatives from education and MITA together with key entities in investment employment and industry, including: Malta Enterprise, Malta Communications Authority, the Lotteries and Gaming Authority, the Employment and Training Corporation and the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.

The Foundation's mandate is to advise government and stakeholders on matters related to eSkills policy and lead an ICT professionalism development programme.

The mandate also allows for additional sub-committees which can represent the views of other stakeholders and together create a stronger synergised network of partners who collectively can work to implement more holistic programmes.

Education minister Evarist Bartolo said that IT skills were crucial in both one's education as well as in employment. "Today we're talking about the future of our country. The courses available today do not necessary cover the skills required for the careers of tomorrow. We must appreciate that the rhythm of changes in technology is much faster and changes are much easier to implement than in education. Changing syllabi, courses and pedagogy is more complex. This is why we need to ensure a stronger interaction between what happens in education and training and what happens in the real world workplace."

MITA's Executive Chairman, Mr Tony Sultana, said that one of the Agency's priorities is to evolve the eSkills value chain required by the local industry. He said that the launch of the eSkills Malta Foundation with the participation of various stakeholders will help in the further development and maturity of the local industry.