Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/820803
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 MAY 2017 44 Information Technology Introducing students to their MITA LAUNCHES THE STUDENT PLACEMENT PROGRAMME MITA has recently launched the Stu- dent Placement Programme (SPP) which has been in place for several years. This programme is a means for Government to facilitate the creation of temporary work opportunities for students in the ICT sector. During the launch of the programme, Minister Emmanuel Mallia said that Malta experiences a lot of chal- lenges in the technological sector, mostly because of the large number of qualified and specialised people that are required to work in differ- ent sections of the ICT sector. For this reason, Mallia said that it is important that we keep striving to increase the workforce and its competencies in the sector so that we can compete in a differentiated manner. To achieve this, Mallia said that it is important that students and youth are offered the best opportunities to learn how to work and behave in their future roles. Apart from being educated to get qualified, the min- ister said that students need to learn other skills which are known as soft skills. These include communication skills, self-confidence and a build-up of a strong character which are re- quired by employers when searching for the adequate candidates to hire. In his speech, Mallia said that feed- back coming from the industry was taken on board the Student Place- ment Programme and was adopted in the programme so that it is remains relevant and effective. This feedback included suggestions to start the placement before or after July; and that students' working hours should be flexible, according to when their service is mostly required. The minister also explained that the programme is simple and without bureaucratic processes so that it captures the attention of enterprises and voluntary organisations. Mal- lia explained that through electronic forms, employers can choose the skills and the number of students that they require. At the same time, the same forms will be used by em- ployers at the end of the student placement to get their money back. Finally, Mallia said that the more placements there are, the bigger the opportunities there will be for students to achieve their ambitions in the ICT sector. The minister ex- plained that human resources are very important for our country and therefore it is important that in our strategies we include such oppor- tunities which provide youths with experiences they can learn from for the future. MITA's Executive Chairman, Tony Sultana also addressed the press conference, explaining how the programme works, such that private