The Gozo Youth Council, has said that it believes that further investment in the Education sector is of great importance to the ever growing youth population, and to our island in general.
“However, in Gozo, generative investment in education has been severely lacking in the last decade, compared to Malta.”
The Gozo Youth Council said that it has always believed and supported, the idea that Gozo can become an education hub for foreign and also Maltese youths, through the development of the Gozo Campus of the University of Malta.
“The current situation in Gozo is such, that the University of Malta offers primarily part-time courses, while the MCAST centre does not have any degree courses.”
“Although such courses satisfy the needs of working people furthering their studies, it is a waste to not utilise the available infrastructure to its full potential,” The GYC said,
It pointed out that a more holistic approach should be taken in Gozo, “wherein the centres are not simply seen as a service for Gozitans who cannot study in Malta, but as fully-fledged institutes with their own specific full-time courses bachelor and post-graduate courses.”
“These could be in new research or education streams that are not currently fully developed or present in Malta,” the GYC said.
“Such a move towards a knowledge-based services would serve Gozo and the whole country well.”
GYC stated that in economic terms, Malta might have reached a ‘full-employment’ status, “in which the remaining jobs and careers are unreachable to youths due to skills mismatches, apart from apathy.”
“But for those youths who seek a future in Malta’s thriving sectors, there is the need to fortify their abilities and allow Gozo as a region to host such initiatives,” the Gozo Youth Council concluded.