“This partnership with the Edward de Bono Institute has been of great benefit for Melita, helping to inject new and creative ideas into our marketing strategy,” said Mireille Muscat, Head of Marketing at Melita. “This will help us to better communicate the benefits of using Melita’s infrastructure and products. We also hope that the experience will have given a useful practical insight to the students about what awaits them once their studies are completed,” she added.

“This initiative was a great experience for our students, giving them an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge to a practical scenario. The Edward de Bono Institute is committed to building partnerships like this with the private sector as we firmly believe that these initiatives help both students and potential future employers to understand each other’s skills and requirements,” said Margaret Mangion, Senior Lecturer at the Edward de Bono Institute.

The post UM students pitch marketing ideas to Melita first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The educational project will cover 25 thematic activities, involving students from kindergarten to post-secondary level. Students will tackle history, maths, Maltese grammar and literature, physical activity and drama. Some HM curators will deliver outreach programmes in schools including didactic resources and interactive workbooks.

“We hope that this multidisciplinary approach will show students and parents that museums are inclusive, accessible to everyone, and so much more than just historical sites,” said Mario Cutajar, Heritage Malta’s executive director.

“Following this summer’s successful programme, creating a new educational programme for the scholastic year was a natural continuation of our educational goals,” said Frank Fabri, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Education and Employment, while attending the launch.

The post HM and MEDE launch educational programme eyeing to reach 9,000 students first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The programme centres around a workshop entitled “Needs and Wants”, which adopts gamification to get children engaged and have fun while learning. The workshop was originally developed by the Primary Mathematics Support Team at the Science Centre Pembroke within the Ministry for Education for ‘X’Hemm Weekend’, a national STEM — the academic principle of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — popularisation event and was specifically adapted for Skolasajf.

Playing the game during the workshop, children can earn credit when answering questions about financial literacy correctly and then they work on building a kite using the budget they have accumulated. Maths Support Team members and coordinators of the workshop Amanda Cilia, Analisa Magro, Francesca Cutajar and Jeanelle Attard agree that gamification makes a topic such as budgeting more interesting for children to learn the basics of budgeting.

“It is imperative that digital literacy increases across the board and especially important to start early so that children grow up understanding that one should live within their means and also plan for the future,” said David Spiteri-Gingell, Chairman of the RFCG.

“The introduction of the financial literacy topic in the Skolasajf programme is a step in the right direction, towards helping children become citizens that can make informed choices,” said Dermot Galea, CEO of the Foundation for Educational Services which manages Skolasajf. Mr Galea also lauded the partnership with HSBC, which is being consolidated every year.

The project will involve a total of 360 school children attending Skolasajf during this summer. This is one of a number of projects which HSBC Foundation and Ġemma are running in collaboration to enhance digital literacy among school children.

The post Gamification workshop aims to improve children’s financial literacy first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The initiative was held in collaboration with the Malta Insititute of Management and it was aimed at raising awareness about career options within the financial services industry and promoting financial education for the youths.

“The most important thing is to make sure that you pursue a career that is in line with your interests. It is more rewarding to aim at doing a job that you know you will enjoy. Once you have determined your goal, you need to plan and then work hard to achieve that goal,” said Tania Camilleri from Ethics and Employee Development at Bank of Valletta.

In addition, Karen Mifsud from the bank’s human resources spoke about the team spirit, staff activities and job opportunities available at the bank. While Tonia Naudi from Multi-Channel Banking explained the mechanisms behind payment systems and the different channels available.

The students participated in interactive sessions on smart ways of payments, trying their hands at Internet Banking, ATMs and Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) terminals.

The post Bank of Valletta hosts banking workshop to youth first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“This year the government has once again increased the allocated budget by 30% to the tune of €800,000 for the Student Placement Programme,” said Mr Schembri. “This is proof of the government’s commitment to give an opportunity to our youths to have hands-on working experience in the industry of the future. This preparedness can only be achieved however if we are able to build on the academic prowess of our youth and provide them with opportunities such as these,” the minister said.

“The number of companies requiring employees having knowledge of emerging technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, internet of things, and virtual reality is always on the increase,” Mr Schembri added. “This is an opportunity for you all and focusing your studies in these areas will surely contribute for you to have a successful career.”   

In addition, MITA’s Head of Strategy and Business Emmanuel Darmanin underlined that MITA, together with employer partners, has been able in the last five years to offer over 1,600 placements in all sectors which have provided exposure to the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and ICT using industry, as the press release says. 

“In line with the various initiatives related to emerging technologies, this year’s event has been created with a direct focus on some of these technologies. I encourage to also make use of MITA’s New Emerging Technologies Lab, experience the practical use of these technologies, and above all make the most out of your Student Placement Programme,” said Mr Darmanin. 

Moreover, the students took part in workshops related to virtual reality, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain amongst others through which the winners were awarded Delta Tech Week. 

During the event, it was also announced that the government official blockchain event Delta Summit will be transformed into the Government Tech Week between 30 of September and 6 of October 2019 and will cover different areas such as AI, IoT, blockchain, eSports, game development and space research.

The post MITA student placement to host 380 students in 2019 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The event was conceptualised by the Department of Accounting and Business Studies within the Directorate for Learning and Assessment Programmes (DLAP) at the Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE) and supported by HSBC Malta Foundation as part of its Future Skills programme.

Malta ranks in the lower end among the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries in terms of adults making money decisions in their household by themselves or together with others in the household, the press statement says.

The school quiz was designed to distinguish between needs and wants, budgeting, earning, spending and saving money, investments, insurance, banking services, and even donations.

“Considering that this was a first-of-its-kind quiz in Malta and Gozo, the enthusiasm shown by schools was remarkable and encourages us to continue creating more financial literacy-related events in future. The high participation also demonstrated that financial literacy needs to be more prominently discussed in the imagination of the public,” said Joanne Zammit, Education Officer for Accounting and Business Studies at DLAP.

More questions focused on students’ responsibility, awareness and knowledge when buying online, fixed and variable costs, and debt. The quiz was online, allowing students to use tablets and their mobile phones to answer the questions, aimed at increasing digital literacy as well. The Directorate for Digital Literacy and Transversal Skills provided the tablets and guided students on how to use the quiz app.

During the event, officials from the government’s financial capability strategy (2017-2019), Ġemma, and from HSBC also held presentations. MEDE Permanent Secretary Dr Frank Fabri handed the prizes and certificates.

The post Malta’s first financial literacy quiz activates hundreds first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Before the flight, students received brief talks on the formalities of the airport by both Air Malta and Malta International Airport personnel. After this, students visited the airline’s engineering hangar to see Air Malta’s latest Airbus A320neo aircraft sporting Nickelodeon livery. One of the airline’s engineers explained some technical features of the aircraft during the visit.

The school organised the event together with Air Malta’s Captain Mark Micallef and the airline’s charter flights section. “It was made possible with the assistance given by the teachers and guardians of St Monica School who also accompanied the children, Malta International Airport including its Fire and Rescue Section and the Malta Air Traffic Services Ltd,” Air Malta says.

Every year many local schools take the opportunity to organise similar educational flights on Air Malta for their students, the press statement adds.

The post Air Malta takes Birkirkara students on educational flight first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.