While higher education is often seen as a key to social mobility and economic opportunity, translating a tertiary education degree into a successful career is not automatic. The number of students continuing their tertiary education at the university and MCAST keeps increasing. This is undoubtedly a positive development. However, a more detailed analysis is needed to determine whether graduates are securing the tertiary education level jobs they studied for.
EU data published recently confirms that Maltese graduates are the most likely to walk into a job, with almost 96 per cent of graduates finding a job within three years of finishing their studies.
This phenomenon is partly due to the high rate of growth of the economy, especially in the services sector. However, it does not tell us how many graduates find the kind of employment they aspire to.
A 2022 study by the National Statistics Office found that more than a third of all workers in Malta are overqualified for their jobs, with women and youths, in particular, tending to find themselves in jobs beneath their skill set. Another crucial indicator is the 10 per cent of 18-24-year-olds who are early school leavers.
It is time for education policymakers to ask whether we have a problem of under-employment – too many workers in a job that do not adequately use their skills or education. If we have an underemployment problem, as seems to be the case, we must find ways to reverse this phenomenon.
Graduate under-employment is not just a local phenomenon. International studies confirm that graduate first jobs matter as once graduates are employed in jobs for which they are overqualified, they are likely to remain in that job for a long time. Some international studies confirm that individuals who start under-employed are 3.5 times more likely to be under-employed a decade after graduation compared to those whose first job is a university-level job. A large number of under-employed individuals demonstrates a mismatch between the graduates coming out of tertiary education and the skills and experience employers seek.
The education authorities must ask themselves some very relevant questions. Why is our education system producing too many graduates in some faculties, like law and humanities, while not enough scientists, engineers, technology specialists and mathematicians?
Is the stipend system presently structured to encourage more students to follow the tougher courses that lead to qualifications in the kind of specialisations the modern economy demands?
The answers to these questions are critically important for the country and for individuals who decide to spend years in tertiary education. As a country, our expenditure on education is at par with the EU average. However, what is more relevant is to know whether we are getting value for the money we spend on education.
Why, for instance, do we have to employ so many foreign graduates for jobs in financial services, gaming and engineering when our tertiary education institutions cater for courses in these disciplines?
For qualified individuals, underemployment causes a long-term financial burden. In most Western countries, 88 per cent of underemployed university graduates are severely underemployed or working in jobs that typically require only a secondary school education or less. We cannot afford this waste of human and financial capital.
Simply boosting educational attainment without adapting to labour market demands will not provide measurable benefits for the economy or graduates who spend years studying.
Educational policymakers must urgently address the challenge of connecting individuals to impactful, paid employment opportunities during their tertiary education experience.