University.
industry. Following the publication of this article, the department has
in the very near future. We are also actively talking to several other
companies. Information about the research areas predominant in the
http://www.cs.um.edu.mt/research/.
knowledge and skills transfer). Collaborations may also lead to joint
applications for EU funding through FP6.
Entrepreneurial Skills. IPSE (http://www.ipse.org.mt/) provides training
courses on preparing business plans and analysing business ideas. The
student to attend them.
able to recognise a good idea can be an advantage. As Melvin pointed
somebody else's Business Plan. The Board of Studies for Information
innovation. Through the collaborative R&D groups, there is also scope
final year undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Dear All,
I think that the fulcrum of our problem is our own culture. Throughout
the
ages our society was inculcated with the fact of being reactive, rather
than proactive. We have always obeyed orders and that is what we do
best.
How can we be proactive, innovative and entrepreneurial if there is not
the
right environment to do so. I very much welcome initiatives like KBIC
but
who or what is bridging the gap between the school desk and institutions
like KBIC? Let us take for example research. Much have been said about
university students and their lack of entrepreneurial skills. Everybody
knows that students at university do a lot of research to be able to do
their assignments and above all their thesis and dissertation. But what
happens with all this research. Well I think everybody knows that these
assignments and dissertations are left there on the shelves to dust
among
the collection of the previous years. And surely enough you cannot
blame
the students for leaving their work idle in some sort of Melitensia
library.
There is a missing link between the lecturer/reviewer and the
industry. I
am sure that out of the thousands of dissertations that every year are
handed in there are those excellent ones which can be used by the
industry
and the central government. This is a clear example of what happens
with
research - is the University promoting the use of these works, has the
private sector enough confidence and respect towards university as an
institution preparing high level graduates? Does the industry value
enough
the potential of these students? Perhaps they might argue that this is
all
theory and no practice, but in reality we are afraid to admit that a
student
has come up with a brighter idea than a person with hands on experience.
Perhaps all there needs to be done is some polishing and fine tuning of
the
idea. The right mixture is research and experience. Perhaps
industrialists
think that research is nothing but lots of paper and a waste of time.
But
let us take for example the projects undertaken by the faculty of
Architecture and the Faculty of Engineering. And the list goes on and
on?
And then we want the students to be entrepreneurial!?!?! Come on what
do we
expect with a system like this. We are happy with reinventing the
wheel and
in the meantime we lose precious time.
As a nation we are recative to the situations that are shaping other
countries. In some aspects we are perhaps ten and fifteen years behind
other countries. The education system does not permit students to
exploit
their potential. We have to be submissive because otherwise we fall
out of
the whole system. I have friends abroad that their University life is
much
more interesting - they are offered scholarships to go and get hands-on
experience while conitnuing thier studies abroad. The amount of
knowledge
you earn by simply interacting with your foreign counterparts is
immense.
And all this is happenning while Maltese students are forced to do
nothing
else but study. Then they finish university, apply for a job and the
first
question they are asked is "How much experience do you have?" We all
know
what happens then. Someone may argue that now students have the
opportunity to interact with their counterparts with variuos EU
programmes,
but let's be honest - are these an integrative part of the curriculum?
If
it weren't for these EU programmes what were the options available
offered
by the Universtiy and other similar institutions? The answer is simply
nothing, and this confirms how reactive we are. We wait and wait and
will
continue waiting until someone comes knocking on our door!!! Why are
these
options available only to University students (sorry there is another
programme for vocational students? Are University studenets living on
the
Mount Olympus? What about the other students (technical, designers,
artists)? Are they not part of the system? What programmes are
available
for these students? Let us take for example the Institute of Tourism
Studies. The courses offered there with international exposure as an
integrative part of the studies is something which surely can be
adapted to
other courses on this island. Everyone understands that the right
mixture is
public, private and in this case student contribution. Everyone is
aware of
this but no one does nothing about it!!
And then we expect to advance ahead of others? Simply tell me how? I
am
sorry that I am sounding so negative but in this forum I have heard
nothing
more than criticism towards the lack of entrepreneurial skills amongst
our
students. But the real problem is our culture. As a recent graduate in
Management we had credits in Entrepreneurial skills. We were divided in
five groups of perhaps eight people each and every group had to think
about
something innovative and throughout the 2 months of the course we had to
device a marketing plan , a strategy, budget etc. Every group came up
with
innovative ideas, mind you we were not the first ones to do it, Previous
students have done it and it is still being done today. The fact is
that
people change, ideas change but what remains constant is that these
ideas
are left there becuase they served their only purpose - they earned us
credits and we graduated!
Sorry for keeping so long - my next contribution will be about an
article I
came across which comes just in time for this forum.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [
[email protected]]On
Behalf Of Ray Muscat
Sent: 26 August 2002 18:32
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: eForesee malta-ict: Scenarios for Malta in ICT
Brian & Robert,
My earlier contribution referred to ICT graduates that might be
interested
for a business career and not for those that are looking for
employment. I
agree with Brian that the academic standards of graduates is indeed
high and
compares very well (if not better) than foreign counterparts. Thus, I
agree
that this is not a priority.
However, if we want to invest in the local potential (as other
countries are
aggressively doing) then we must broaden horizontally the knowledge of
our
graduates by the inclusion of or exposure to basic entrepreneurial
modules.
I fail to see why ICT graduates shouldn’t start their own businesses.
Foreign ICT graduates do!
With regards University bashing – this is surely not the intention.
Scenario
building is essentially the process of defining what one needs to
achieve,
but in the context of what one already has or could realistically
change. Of
course, the latter involves the careful assessment of how the status quo
could be challenged, think out of the box, consider the implications and
limitations and see where we could improve – and yes, all round 360 deg.
Surely, a non-entrepreneurial university is not only its problem, but
more
so of the whole community. It may be interesting to note that in the
EU, the
estimated number of spin-out programmes (not individual projects)
involving
universities or research institutes amount to 308.
Ray Muscat
KBIC
-----Original Message-----
From: CSM chair []
Sent: 27 August 2002 02:00
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: eForesee malta-ict: Scenarios for Malta in ICT
Ray,
you've made a very important point.
In a previous discussion it has been said that perhaps the university
is not
turning out the required high level of ICT graduates. I believe that
this
is incorrect, and that the University is turning out graduates to the
required academic level.
However, an adequate supply of suitably-qualified ICT graduates will not
give us what we're after, which is growth of the ICT industry in Malta.
Perhaps ICT students are not entrepreneurial by nature, perhaps any
entrepreneurial spirit they may have has never been encouraged, or
perhaps
they were never taught how to turn ideas into business.
Perhaps we don't even need ICT graduates who are also entrepreneurs.
Perhaps all we need is entrepreneurs, who can get an ICT business
started up
and employ ICT professionals to develop his ideas.
In any case, there's a lot that needs to be done to develop the ICT
industry
in Malta, but raising the academic level of University graduates is
fairly
low on that list.
Brian
Brian Warrington
Chairman, Computer Society of Malta
www.csm.org.mt
----- Original Message -----
From: Ray Muscat
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 11:50 AM
Subject: RE: eForesee malta-ict: Scenarios for Malta in ICT
Juan,
I like your contribution. Indeed, our current education system is
failing.
Instead of trying to nurture the innovative and inquisitive elements of
our
children, the system is filtering the few academically gifted students
from
the many practical (and possibly those that do think out of the box)
students. The system is preparing students to University, which is
itself
not entrepreneurial, leading to graduates that are indeed very low on
creativity. On the other hand, given the opportunity (such as Young
Enterprise), our youngsters prove to all that they can indeed be
creative.
Ray Muscat
KBIC
-----Original Message-----
From: Juan Borg Manduca []
Sent: 22 August 2002 14:17
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: eForesee malta-ict: Scenarios for Malta in ICT
I'd like to add to this suggestion (see email from Leonard Bezzina
below)
because it particularly interests me.
Since I have been involved in formative assessments for some time now,
an
area worth pursuing is how to develop a system which will evolve the
present system of education (exam based) into one which will take into
consideration the special needs of 'individual' students.
In fact, the National Minimum Curriculum makes reference to introducing
formative assessments as part of a school's delivery mechanism.
In many cases, exams are actually detrimental to our children, and
instead
of achieving the desired target of 'educating' our children, are
actually
harming them by focusing on getting the students 'through' exams.
The major problem with today's system is that it does the exact
opposite of
what such a system is supposed to do ie instead of the system being
made to
fit the student, the student is being forced to fit the system.
I would categorise students into three main groups, a) bookworm, b)
learning
by observation, c) learning by 'hands-on'.
The present system caters for only the bookworm (as we all know), and
all
other students end up falling through the net, and in most cases being
branded as failures. This branding of students occurs at as early an
age as
5-6 years.
The advent of ICT presents us with a unique opportunity to design a case
study, eg take the syllabus of one particular subject in one particular
year
and present the same syallabus in three different formats to suit all
groups
of students (ie one format will address the bookworm and may not differ
considerably from today's presentation method, but the other two would
of
course ensure that the student learns by using techniques customised to
that
particular group). The use of computers will be the fulcrum of delivery
of
curriculum.
Of course, proper tests are to be designed in order to be able to
categorise
students properly.
In this manner, one could use this case study on a group of students
from a
particular school (willing to participate), and results (statistics)
could
then be used and compared in order to gauge success (or failure) of the
project.
These are just my thoughts..........
Juan
----- Original Message -----
From: Leonard Bezzina
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: eForesee malta-ict: Scenarios for Malta in ICT
Dear Jennifer,
I would like to suggest the following scenario:
Malta would become a centre of excellence in ICT in education (practice
and
theory). This implies a situation where all teachers are making the best
possible use of ICT in order to enhance teaching and learning in all
areas
of the curriculum and at all levels of our education system (primary,
secondary, post-secondary and tertiary). This vision includes making
most of
the communication capabilities of current and future technology in
order to
promote learning at a distance and at all times of the day (e-learning)
and
at facilitating communication between parents/guardians and the school.
It
also implies a situation where Malta develops innovative ways of making
use
of ICT in our classrooms. Once such a vision is in place we can
become a
Mediteranean centre of excellence in teacher education in this area. We
can
then offer appropriate University level courses mainly through distance
learning.
Leonard Bezzina
Jennifer Cassingena Harper wrote:
Dear Colleagues, We would like to initiate an on-line discussion on
alternative futures for Malta in ICT. We would like you to send us up
to ten
different scenario themes for Malta in ICT. These can be scenario
themes
focused on:
* specific niche areas (e.g. Malta as an e-learning hub)
* or ICT-enabled initiatives (e.g. on-line gambling)
* or telecomms-related initiatives
* or any other ideas in general !!
Ideally, this exercise should not involve too much time - maximum 30
minutes - just jot down what comes immediately to mind. So send us your
feedback if possible by Thursday 22 August.Looking forward to hearing
from
you, Jennifer
___________Dr. Jennifer Cassingena
Harper
Head, Policy Unit,
Malta Council for Science and Technology
Villa Bighi, Bighi, Kalkara CSP 11, Malta
email: [email protected] http://www.mcst.org.mt
direct dial-in: +356 23602125
tel. +356 21 660340 (fax) +356 21 660341
___________
+++++++++++++++
Dr Leonard Bezzina
Department of Mathematics, Science and Technical Education
Faculty of Education
University of Malta
Msida MSD 06
Malta
E-mail address: [email protected]
Telephone number: 3290 2404
+++++++++++++++
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