2025

The National Skills Council Signs Two New MoUs

In February 2025, the National Skills Council (NSC) signed two memoranda of understanding: 

- The first MoU was signed with the Institute for Education (IfE) to enhance professional training, skills development and research within the education sector. IfE will also be integrated into NSC’s Career Guidance Network and both entities will identify key sectoral needs to align education with job market demands.

- The second MoU was signed with JobsPlus to align initiatives on skills intelligence, policy development, and human capital investment, fostering sustainable economic growth and social well-being. Jobsplus and the NSC will jointly focus on initiatives such as developing a skills and employment barometer, evaluating the feasibility of Individual Learning Accounts, improving the taxonomy of skills and occupations, and consolidating evidence-based research to support career advisory services.

Jobsplus Bespoke Courses

Jobsplus has launched bespoke courses initiative to further strengthen labour market resilience through the promotion of training. Employers who require an adapted version of any of the current JobsPlus courses on offer, or indeed require a new specific course, can approach Jobsplus to design bespoke courses that are tailored to their needs. In 2024, Jobsplus designed a questionnaire that was disseminated amongst employers through the Malta Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of SMEs, the Malta Employers Association (MEA), the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) and Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA). Following an analysis of the responses received from employers, Jobsplus has prepared 4 additional new courses – ‘Leadership and Management’; ‘Conversation classes in Maltese’; ‘Enhancing the Environmental, Social Governance Culture (ESG)’ and ‘Environmental Data Management Systems (EDMS)’. 

2024

Launch of courses for shift workers

As of October 2024, the Directorate for Lifelong Learning and Employability introduced new courses designed for the needs of workers employed on shift basis. These Courses will be offered in English as a Foreign Language and Maltese as a Foreign Language, both at MQF 1.

These courses will be offered online, with learners expected to attend at least 40% of lessons synchronously and another 40% asynchronously, which parameters aim to accommodate the needs of shift work schedules. Learners are expected to submit the tasks assigned by the educator at the end of every lesson regardless whether they attend synchronously or asynchronously.

Training courses by Jobsplus

As of 2024, Jobsplus, Malta Public Employment Service, has updated a number of its micro-credential courses, revising content and increasing accreditation to MQF level 4. These courses included: 

-    Award for A+ PC Technicians
-    Award in GDPR for the Data Protection Officer
-    Award in Mental Health Support
-    Award in Web Design

In addition, new courses to meet the needs of the current labour market have been introduced. These include the Award in Marketing and Sales pegged at MQF level 4 and two non-accredited courses in Change Management and Defining Artificial Intelligence.  

2023

Jobsplus launches new courses in 21st Century Skills

In the last quarter of 2023, Jobsplus, the National Employment Agency, introduced a series of short courses aimed at developing 21^st Century skills. These include courses in Entrepreneurship; a course on Critical Thinking and another one on Enhanced Creativity and Innovation. These courses aim to enhance participants’ soft skills and transversality.

Updates on SMARTLY project administered by Jobsplus

As part of the SMARTLY project, Jobsplus developed two training programmes, one focusing on Green skills (May, 2023) and the other on Digital skills (April,2023). In July 2023, it also developed a profiling tool that can evaluate the green and digital competences of youths. The online profiling tool is currently undergoing testing with 100 youths who are not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) across Malta, Croatia, and Cyprus.

ITS launches new Training School aimed at meeting the HORECA industry needs

In February 2023, The Institute for Tourism Studies (ITS) launched a new Training School to provide training programmes and short courses to current and prospective workers within the hospitality and tourism industry. The Training School aims to be industry-driven in content and format. This includes offering courses that meet current skills gaps facing the industry and industry goals; offering the current workforce upskilling and reskilling opportunities within the industry; and offering both standard and bespoke programmes that meet the specific needs of the particular industry.