Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1000343
16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JULY 2018 MITA MITA celebrates the 10th year of the Student Placement Programme… Over 1,300 placements to students MITA is this week celebrat- ing its 10th year of the Stu- dent Placement Programme which over the last years has offered more than 1,300 meaningful opportunities to students to get exposure in ICT and in the ICT using in- dustry. During an event, which was held to celebrate this year's start of the student placement programme, the Parliamenta- ry Secretary for Financial Ser- vices, Digital Economy and Innovation, Silvio Schembri expressed his pleasure at the announcement that Govern- ment has decided to back this programme once again. He explained that the Students Placement Programme is very important and said that Government will continue stressing on the importance of such programmes. Schembri explained that due to the globalisation of the world around us, there are constant changes which are presenting us and our markets with new challenges, both within the European Union and even beyond its borders. This reality does not affect a single sector within the industry, but all the sec- tors within business. For this reason, Schembri said that Government can- not cease from emphasising how important it is to invest in today's youth through such programmes like the Student Placement Programme be- cause students are the prom- ise of tomorrow's workforce. The importance of pro- grammes like the Student Placement Programme is proof of Government's com- mitment to enable our youth, not only with a sound aca- demic background, but also with the confidence to enter the workforce in the future, knowing that they are fully prepared to meet the chal- lenges of the workplace to- day. However, this prepar- edness can only be achieved if we are able to build upon the academic prowess of our youth and help them to de- velop the necessary soft skills such as communication, criti- cal thinking, problem-solving and team-building, which are also a much-needed reality in the working environment of today. The Parliamentary Sec- retary explained that these skills and others like them cannot be taught in a class- room environment, but are rather adopted through ex- posure, implementation of best practices in the work en- vironment and through force of habit. Regarding the Student Placement Programme event, Schembri said that it is a tes- timony of the success story of the project, not simply be- cause it remains an extremely valid programme which is a much-anticipated yearly event, but which year on year brings about the possibility of the creation of a fresh, rel- evant and prepared sector of upcoming Human Resources. Schembri concluded by en- couraging the students to make their most out of their placements this summer. He explained to students that they will not only gain valu- able exposure in their chosen career path, but this experi- ence will also prove valuable once these students conclude their studies and join the workforce. MITA's Executive Chair- man, Tony Sultana, also ad- dressed the event, where he explained that this pro- gramme continues to develop a stronger vision of a "Digi- tal Malta". Sultana explained that in the last four years MITA has invested over €1.9 million and this year it will be investing a further €600,000.