Faculty of ICT - PBS News.wmv

Importance of ICT Education

ICT is already transforming the fabric of emerging economies in India and China. Evidently, in Malta, the pace of ICT uptake is also increasing rapidly. This is due to a number of factors: the ongoing process of globalisation, the phenomenal rate of adoption of mobile technologies and services, the realisation by small and medium-sized enterprises that investment in ICT is necessary for effective competition. In the past decade, several SMEs operating in the ICT sector with an international clientele have established roots here. Moreover Government has just set up a number of strategic partnerships with some of the larger players including Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems etc.

Even at present, ICT companies are experiencing a skill shortage. With investments like that of Smart City, it is clear that unless concrete educational initiatives are taken to increase numbers, the skill shortage is set to become more severe. Both the Government and the Opposition have clearly indicated ICT to be one of the major growth areas in the foreseeable future, both have expressed themselves in favour of the setting up of a Faculty of ICT at the University, and both have expressed dismay at the fact that the University has not taken proactive action on this front particularly as demand for ICT graduates and researchers is on the increase.

The skill shortage that affects Malta's ability to compete in the ICT area exists at three levels. * The first "technician" level, is required by local industries seeking employees with a sound level of competence in well-established programming and networking technologies. * The second "graduate" level goes beyond technical mastery of any particular technologies, requiring an understanding of design issues, some experience with management of complex projects, and an ability to adapt to rapidly evolving systems and new technologies. This is typically the level of competence achieved by University of Malta graduates, at honours degree level. * The third, "postgraduate" level involves the deployment of a significant degree of innovation. Experience in other European countries strongly suggests that if innovation is to percolate through to practice in the industrial sphere, there has to be a solid infrastructure supporting innovative research upon which it can be built. This in turn depends upon the existence of a focused strategy for instigating and maintaining research at University and a large increase in the number of masters and doctoral level graduate students generated in relevant areas.

The provision of an appropriate level of ICT expertise is a critical factor for the future educational policy of the University of Malta, which is well placed to support these requirements but only if it enhances the range of ICT courses offered at diploma, undergraduate and the postgraduate levels on a part-time as well as full-time basis. For this to be possible, it must properly focus its current resources and also position itself to attract further funding from both Government and Industry.

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