Education as we know it today may be losing its zest and much of its relevance as technological, socio-economic and political developments create new challenges for the workplace. Fundamental changes must be made as higher education has reached a critical crossroads. Policymakers must ensure that they make the right choices for the prosperity of future generations.
The publication of the National Strategic Action Plan for Further and Higher Education 2022-2030 is a well-prepared document that accurately describes the realities faced by today’s tertiary education. It attempts to place the performance of Malta’s educational system in the context of the rapid socio-economic changes in our society over the last two decades.
The fact that Malta’s education system is underperforming in many aspects is not denied in the action plan. However, this uncomfortable reality is somewhat underemphasised by focusing more on actual and perceived successes. Despite some substantial improvements in, for instance, the lowering of early school leaving, Malta still ranks high among EU countries for students who drop out of the system at an early stage.
The strategic document highlights “the large attainment gap that exists between native-born (32.7%) and foreign-born individuals (50.3%)” with tertiary education qualifications. This reality exposes the increasing risk of overdependence on imported labour for continued sustainable economic growth. In this regard, it was good news that, a few days later, the National Statistics Office put out figures that showed a 20 per cent rise in tertiary-level graduates in 2021 than the year before.
This strategic plan should succeed in bringing the question of the relevance of current educational policy to the attention of all stakeholders. However, it fails to sufficiently address the underlying causes behind the underperformance of all levels of education, including further and higher education.
Some educators and business leaders, for instance, question whether the present student stipend system promotes proper social mobility or is just ‘dumbing down’ tertiary education by making it easier for students to opt for courses that do nothing to help their career chances.
Social mobility is not about getting more people into universities or vocational colleges. Too many students in the last two decades have been misled by the expansion of popular-sounding courses with no actual demand from the labour market. The IMF has just advised the government to encourage more students to pursue STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to address the “weak technical skills and human resources”.
This strategic document will achieve its aim if all stakeholders insist on getting better value for money spent on education. The quality assurance that policymakers promise to embed in their action plan will only be achieved if tough decisions are taken to address current weaknesses.
Effective higher education reform should include some challenging strategies. Educational leaders must ensure that assessments stretch and challenge students. Tertiary education policymakers must implement a policy to make external examiners’ reviews of the more essential courses more intensive. Tertiary education institutions must review and publish data and analysis on students’ degree and higher education qualification outcomes.
The stipend system is a politically sensitive issue. But questions need to be asked on whether, in its present form, it is indeed helping students, especially those from financially distressed backgrounds, to level up and avoid remaining an underclass in Maltese society.
Students deserve to see the benefits from their qualifications accumulate over their lifetime. They need to have qualifications that improve their chances of achieving prosperity. Employers and the wider public must be convinced of the strength of tertiary education.