The seventh meeting of the Core Group of the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC) was held on the 27^th March 2009.

The main topic on the Agenda was the Commission’s Communication on new skills and better jobs.

The Commission’s Communication was presented by Ms Kirsten Miller, officer within the National Commission for Higher Education (NCHE).

The EU is concerned with long term growth and productivity, jobs and capacity to adapt to change, gender equality and social cohesion.  A marked gap exists between the skills required by an organisation and the current capabilities of its workforce, due to various reasons which educational institutions are not addressing.

The Commission is forecasting approximately 100 million job openings in the EU-25 over the period 2006 – 2020.  In Malta 77,500 jobs will have to be created in order to meet such target. 

Discussion among members focused on, amongst other matters:

• the emergence of green jobs,
• the need for career’s guidance at a younger age,
• the challenge to increase the skills of those with low qualification so as to enable them to access the middle qualification bracket in view of the fact that 41% of young people in Malta have a low level of qualification,
• the perception that the caring professions are not glamourous and the need for more incentives to motivate employment within such professions,
• the need for more investment in Malta in post-secondary and tertiary education: locally the current level of investment is at 1.7% of GDP, while the EU is proposing that this investment should reach the 3% of GDP.
• accurate projections with regard to job mobility.

Other matters

A status report on the election of three civil society representatives to the Core Group was presented.  So far, Mr Benjamin Rizzo has been elected. Two other members will be elected in the coming weeks. 

A revised policy for the Civil Society Fund was also presented and members expressed their agreement with the proposals.  The CSF will include, for the first time, support for civil society organisations for co-financing when applying for EU funds. The CSF will also continue to assist CSOs with their participation in European groupings, associations and federations.

The next meeting of the Core Group will be held on Friday, 24^th April, 2009.