Let us stop the fire fighting

Families that have hosted language school students are to regularise their position and declare this income to the Inland Revenue Department. No irregularities or criminal intent in the issuing of visas by our embassy people in China. Recent news.

Is there a connection? Maybe it is not so evident. If so, it reflects how our country is failing miserably to think strategically, and persists with the belief that matters will sort themselves out. We continue fire fighting, at a time when we urgently need to be sowing.

Education tourism is one business activity which market forces continue to indicate as potentially rewarding for our country. Malta today is one of Europe's favourite destinations for English language learning. Last year we hosted some 56,000 students which represented five per cent of total tourist arrivals. We earned over Lm30 million and generated some 1,500 teaching jobs. Thousands of families have benefited by offering accommodation to these students. Should we be satisfied? Or should we be thinking where to go from here?

International education travel is becoming big business. Market structures are changing fast. Historically, students from the colonies went for their graduate studies in imperial centres such as the UK and France. Then the US took over as world leader in this field too. Australia, Canada and New Zealand too became important players.

Now all sorts of new destinations are coming to the market. Many of them compete on price. But not solely. Having an efficient, effective and fair immigration service for the issuing of visas is an important consideration especially when catering for lucrative, non-European markets such as the Chinese and Libyan ones. Malta has invested a lot of effort in building and maintaining good relations with such countries and we just cannot afford not to reap some of the business opportunities that they now offer, including in education tourism.

The demand for education is being driven by a number of factors including the need for life-long learning, the growth of the middle-classes in Third World countries and enhanced marketing efforts by universities so as to bolster their cash flows in the face of dwindling government funding. Demand not only deepened but it also became broader. Students travel to obtain non-curricular experience and other certification, many times seeking to combine learning with fun.

The benefits of education tourism are not just financial. Foreign students bring with them a mixture of knowledge and ideas which help to cross-fertilise and strengthen our academia. They could also help us to build critical mass and specialisation in scholastic fields in which Malta has a track record of excellence. This is where strategic planning comes in. We need to identify those areas with the greatest business potential, that align our competencies with specific market opportunities and which intertwine with our broader economic strategy. Medical education is one such field.

Malta should emulate what many small islands in the Caribbean have been doing. We have what it takes to be successful. Our medical school dates back to the days of the Order of St John. Maltese medical specialists work in some of the best hospitals in the UK and elsewhere. In the Caribbean there are now 24 medical schools having 11,000 students. Between 1984 and 2004, some 70 per cent of international medical graduates entering the US came from these schools.

The US, like Europe, has an aging population, which means a greater demand for medical care. There is an under-supply of positions in North American (including Canadian) medical schools where only half of the applicants get accepted. The Caribbean countries have successfully exploited this situation to their advantage. They are also attractive because of location, language, climate, tourist services, well-trained practitioners, established health and medical service industries. All the medical schools are accredited by US state boards. They focus on the provision of basic instruction and contract out clinical rotations to US hospitals.

I believe that Malta too can become a centre of medical excellence in the Mediterranean.

St James Hospital is showing the way. The hospital has recently opened a branch in Tripoli and together with the Centre Euro Méditerranéen de Chirurgie Esthétique has been performing cosmetic surgery for international clients. If Malta is to build a reputation in this sector, the government has to take the lead. We need a national policy that specifies the government's role as an enabler and regulator, while creating the space and providing the necessary incentives to encourage and support private sector investment, local and foreign. In particular, there has to be a convergence of health, education and tourism policies.

Indeed, the next bit of news could be good news. Even a sad story such as the Mater Dei Hospital could be the start of a new chapter for Malta. What is required is vision, commitment and team work.

Fms18@maltanet.net