The 10th Anniversary of the MITA Student Placement Programme

Today, March 2 2018, marks the 10th Anniversary Launch of the MITA Student Placement Programme (SPP). This programme is a means for the government to facilitate the creation of temporary work opportunities for students in the ICT sector.

During his address at the launch of the programme, Parliamentary Secretary, Hon. Silvio Schembri reconfirmed the Government’s full backing of this programme, and the importance that it has for our youth.

The importance of programmes such as The Student Placement Programme (SPP) is proof of the Government’s commitment to enable our youth not only with a sound academic background, but also with the confidence to enter the workforce in the future knowing that they are fully prepared to meet the challenges of the workplace today.

This preparedness can only be achieved however if we are able to build on the academic prowess of our youth, and help them to develop the necessary soft skills such as Communication, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Team Building which are also a much-needed reality in the working environment of today.He also stated that these skills and others like them cannot be taught in a classroom environment, but are rather adopted through exposure, implementation of best practise in the working environment and force of habit.

The Parliamentary Secretary also said that due to the many changes in the globalisation of the world around us, we are forging new and exciting challenges which these changes are bringing to our current markets, and to emerging markets beyond our physical borders as well as those of the European Union. 

He also said that this is a reality which does not effect a single sector within Industry, but is true to all sectors within Business.  It is for this reason, that he stressed the importance of the need to invest in today’s youth through programmes of this kind, because these very students are the promise of tomorrow’s workforce.

In conclusion of his speech, Hon. Schembri urged all employers from the Private Sector, Public Service/Public Sector and NGOs to participate in the programme, and become an active part of this exciting journey which is providing our youth with irreplaceable hands on experience, all the while developing tomorrow’s future workforce.

MITA’s Executive Chairman, Mr Tony Sultana also addressed the press conference, he also reinforced the importance Government places in providing opportunities for today’s youth and future workforce, all the while firmly developing a stronger vision of a “Digital Malta”.

He also stated that in the last 4 years through this programme, MITA together with its Employer Partners in all sectors has been able to offer over 1,300 placements which have provided meaningful exposure to the ICT and ICT using industry.This in effect, translates to an investment of over 1.9 Million Euros through which students have been provided with this positive experience.

Furthermore, he stated that given last year’s successful placement of 332 placements (60% of applicants) this year MITA has set an ambitious target of 400 placements.This will be obtainable through the constant support of our employer partners from Private Industry, Public Service/ Public Sector and NGOs.

Concluding his address, he also explained that this opportunity is not exclusively to open to those Businesses which are directly linked to the use of ICT, but also to those who use ICT in the day to day running of their business such as the Education, Tourism, Health and Manufacturing Sectors.

Jacquie Cremona Crossey, who is the Project Leader of the Student Placement Programme also highlighted salient points about the programme during her presentation.  During this presentation, she provided an overview of the project’s mechanics.