Economist Malcolm Bray has drawn up a report on the current state of private training provision in Malta. The report, commissioned by the Malta Association of Private Training Providers (MATP), was based on a survey of institutions that deliver training, particularly in the areas of ICT, management, commerce, vocational training, and Matsec examinations.
The pilot study aimed to measure the respondents' current operations and identify the sector's growth potential. It emerged that training providers who took part in the survey employ 80 per cent of their workforce as lecturers, and 20 per cent as either administrative or support staff. The majority of lecturers are part-timers; administrative staff work mainly full-time.
Over 60 per cent of lecturers hold a Master's or another degree, while the rest possess a diploma or professional qualification. On average, each training provider has 5.3 lecture rooms with a seating capacity of about 15 students per room. Each training provider also has an average of 50 computers for student use.
Training providers work about 11 hours a day and each training provider increases his/her number of courses per year. By the end of last December, each training provider had offered around 120 courses.
The report indicates that the volume of lecturing hours doubled over two years; 95 per cent were Maltese students. Foreign students mainly hailed from EU member states. The report also shows that revenue from tuition fees is on the increase. Salaries are on the increase too, with about two-thirds of the wage bill representing payments for lecturers.
The survey indicates that the average salary for full-time lecturers in the private sector stands at €17,300, and the average salary for administrative staff stands at €14,500; part-time lecturers and administrative staff are paid around €3,029 per annum.
Private training providers in Malta spend significantly more on marketing each year. However, this does not necessarily translate into more sales: expenditure on marketing has increased by 250 per cent over two years.
Training providers have experienced a positive gross profit on operations (the study did not include net profit calculations). None of the training providers operated at full capacity. The group faces a number of difficulties in its drive to expand the student population. There are difficulties associated with visas for non-EU students. These are hampering growth in this potentially lucrative market. Foreigners currently represent a mere five per cent of the group's student community.
Tapping in this market is considered to be within reach, considering that an estimated 80,000 foreign students come to Malta every year to learn English. Resolution of visa-related problems for non-EU foreigners and marketing campaigns aimed at this niche market may bring good results, particularly when one considers that accommodation rates in Malta are competitive compared to other destinations.
Such a campaign, if successful, would not only result in improved profitability for the private education sector, but will also generate beneficial effects for the economy through the students' spending on accommodation, food and leisure, among other things.
Private training providers believe that the state should give more space to this industry by curbing unfair competition by public authorities, whose main function was to regulate rather than provide training. There is more room for public-private partnerships and not enough attention has been given to this important upcoming sector.
An expanding private training sector can offer further national benefits in terms of ironing out the seasonality problem in tourism - with the right assistance the group has the potential to target foreign students in the autumn and winter. The group eyes the English language sector as a success story to be copied and even improved. With the right help, the group may be able to become an important motor for the economy, similarly to the English language sector, and possibly reach such good results within a shorter period of time.
A well-defined regulatory framework in education would also help reduce uncertainty in this sector. This would encourage further expansion and the creation of additional jobs and also the conversion of some jobs from part-time to full-time.
The World Economic Forum ranked Malta only 56th among 131 countries in its Global Competitiveness Index 2007-2008. Although Malta's performance on higher education and training was slightly better than average (40th), there still remains significant room for improvement.
The report mentions as Malta's notable competitive disadvantages the areas of local availability of specialised research and training services (94th) and the extent of tertiary enrolment (69th).
The training sector in Malta has a large potential to expand but it needs the Government's specialised help to create quality jobs.