European and national policies on Vocational Education and Training (VET) need to be informed by sound and internationally comparable statistical evidence. The VET country statistical overviews are concise, descriptive and user friendly statistical reports. For each country, they quantify and compare key aspects of VET and lifelong learning. The selection is based on the indicators' policy relevance and their importance in achieving the Europe 2020 objectives.

VET indicators for Malta for the last available year
Index numbers (EU=100)

NB:   The index numbers are derived from data summarised in the table. Data in the table have been rounded to one or two decimal places. The calculation of index numbers is instead based on not rounded data.

Malta’s performance on a range of indicators selected to monitor progress in VET and lifelong learning across the European Union (EU) is summarised below. The chart compares the situation in Malta with that of the EU, based on the most recent data available (this differs by indicator). Data in the chart are presented as an index where the EU average equals 100. If the index for a selected indicator for Malta is 100, then its performance equals the EU average. If the index is 90, its performance is 90% of (or 10% below) the EU average. If the index is 200, Malta’s performance is twice (or 200%) the EU average. For some indicators, such as early leavers from education and training, a country is performing better if its score is below that of the EU average.

Data on which the index is calculated are presented in the table, which also shows developments over time. A technical definition of each indicator is provided in the annex.

Key points

Access, attractiveness and flexibility

Based on 2015 data, the share of upper secondary students enrolled in IVET programmes in Malta is 12.7%, which is considerably smaller than the share of 47.3% in the EU as a whole. According to the data, these programmes have no work-based component and offer no direct access to tertiary education.

Malta has 7.5% of adults involved in lifelong learning, which is a smaller percentage than the average for the EU as a whole (10.8% in 2016). This percentage is below the average target (15%) set by the strategic framework Education and training 2020. Older people (at 4.0%) and those with relatively low-level education (at 3.0%) are also less likely to be in receipt of lifelong learning in Malta than in the EU as a whole. On the other hand, the share of young VET graduates in further education and training in Malta, at 31.8%, is quite close to the EU average of 32.8%.

At 54%, the share of enterprises providing training is smaller than the EU average of 66% (CVTS 2010 data). But 36% of employees benefit from employer-sponsored CVT courses, which is quite near the 38% average for the EU. For employees of small firms, however, participation in employer-sponsored CVT courses, at 15%, is lower than the EU average (at 25%).

Skill development and labour market relevance

Data from 2014 show that public expenditure on IVET as a percentage of GDP in Malta (0.36%) is below the EU average (0.54%). Similarly, data from 2014 show that the share of enterprises providing training to support innovation is relatively low (22.0% of innovative enterprises) compared to the EU average (44.8%). The average number of foreign languages learned by upper secondary IVET students in Malta (1.0 in 2015) is at the EU average. The percentage of graduates in STEM subjects from upper secondary IVET (43.0%) is above the EU average (30.8%). Graduates from short-cycle VET programmes account for a relatively large share of first-time graduates from tertiary education (16.1%), as compared to the EU average (9.0%).

The employment rate for IVET graduates (aged 20-34) at ISCED levels 3-4 (93.6%) is higher than the EU average (78.1%). Their employment rate is 6.3 percentage points higher than for graduates from general education at the same ISCED levels (slightly above the corresponding EU average premium of 5.7). The employment rate for IVET graduates in Malta is also 18.8 percentage points higher than for graduates with lower-level qualifications (but this is below the corresponding EU average premium of 23.4). All these employment figures relate to 2016 and exclude young people in further education and training.

Overall transitions and labour market trends

In this section all data refer to 2016 unless otherwise stated.

The percentage of early leavers from education and training in Malta (19.6%) is much higher than the EU average (10.7%), the Europe 2020 average and the national target (both set at 10%). This figure has decreased by 3.1 percentage points between 2011 and 2016. The percentage of 30 to 34 year-olds who have completed tertiary-level education (29.8%) is lower than the EU average (39.1%). It remains lower than the national target (33%) and the Europe 2020 average target (40%). There is a much higher share of adults with low-level education in Malta compared with the EU (54.8% versus 23.0%).

The employment rate for 20 to 64 year-olds (69.6%) is lower than the EU average of 71.0%, but the employment rate of 20 to 64 year-olds with a low level of educational attainment is higher in Malta (57.1%) than in the EU (53.6%). At 96.6%, the employment rate of recent graduates is much higher than in the EU (78.2%). The NEET rate is much lower than the EU average (8.4% compared to 15.2%) as is the unemployment rate for 20 to 34 year-olds (at 4.6% in Malta versus 11.8% in the EU as a whole).

Score on VET indicators in Malta and in the EU, 2010,
last available year and recent change

EU refers to EU-28, unless otherwise specified. Arrows ↗ or ↘ signal a positive or negative change. Arrow → indicates: no change.

(A) UOE back reconstruction of 2010 values based on ISCED 2011 not yet available. (B) AES 2011, used as proxy for 2010 baseline. (C) 2014 b flags in Eurostat online tables ignored on the basis of other relevant Eurostat metadata. (D) Forecast made in 2016. (E1) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for NL. (E2) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for EL, ES, NL, PL, RO. (E3) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for IT, NL. (E4) Based on 23 countries (missing: DK, EL, HR, IT, PT), with partial information for IE and FR. (E5) Based on 23 countries (missing: DK, EL, HR, IT, PT), with partial information for IE and FR. (E6) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for DK, EL, NL. (E7) Based on 25 countries (missing: HR, IT, UK), with partial information for BE, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, LU, NL, PL, SE. (E8) Based on 25 countries (missing: IE, FR, UK), with partial information for BE, EL, LU. (E9) Based on 26 countries (missing: IE, UK), with partial information for DK, DE. (E10) Based on 28 countries. (b) Break after 2010, therefore baseline data not included. (u) Eurostat: ‘low reliability’. (z) Eurostat: ‘not applicable’. (e) Eurostat: ‘estimated’.

Country-specific report details

Country report type
Keywords

Downloads

Statistical overview on VET - Malta - 2017 edition

EN 187.41 KB

Annex 1 – Short descriptions of indicators and additional notes

EN 74.35 KB

Annex 2 – Reading the Country statistical overviews

EN 39.5 KB

Annex 3 – 2017 Masterfile Country statistical overviews

EN 488.58 KB