Lorna – I can assure you, you cannot have a contractual obligation in regard to the training as long as you are not employed and your employer is either offering you study leave or paying for your study.

Students who receive scholarships or stipends cannot be forced to enter into a contractual obligation.

Liberal, my comments were driven mainly by my understanding, like Daphne’s and others, that you were supporting Alfred Sant’s proposal to devalue the Maltese lira to gain in competitiveness, when, as far as I can remember now, there had been no unusual currency turbulence on international markets.

This is unlike the PN government’s devaluation in 1993/94, which was mainly in response to a sudden drop in the value of the Pound Sterling after market pressures.

Your comments also confirm the argument that an accountant, i.e. someone who believes in capital and entrepreneurship, cannot be a socialist.

Baxxter, red card.

Given the nature of such things, nobody knows really.

The course you are looking for is Law :P

Nobody has yet stated in a reasoned non-partisan manner where would our economy have been in the current economic crisis, depression (call it what you will) had we been out of the EU and the Eurozone and still tied to the dear old defunct Malta Lira.

“but one must address the list of university courses which do not contribute anything to the national ecomony or even worse, allowing graduates to leave the island and seek their fortunes overseas after having been educated in Malta for free.”

Shades of Dom Mintoff with his degress not worth the paper they are printed on mantra and the 1977 medical profession massacre resulting in a mass exodus of our best consultants and doctors to pastures new abroad ! It is obvious that you were not born yet in those tumultous times but am I right in stating that you hanker after those times?

Job vacancies being advertised are, in the main, for specialists possibly with previous experience and with one or two university degrees. The days of vacancies for clerks are long gone; entry-level employees for banks now must have at minimum a relevant university degree.

I am not a fan of conspiracy theories but this article from the Guardian makes interesting reading :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/18/us-federal-deficit-china-america-debt?intcmp=239

China does not need any stealth fighters but all it needs is to stop buying US Treasury bonds or, worse still, start offloading
those it already holds. China has also stated that it will be buying Greek and Portuguese sovereign bonds so as to building up its euro holdings. I do not think the Chinese President will be very receptive to US pressure about the yuan exchange rate.

Also, I still would love to see you name those courses. These things usually filter out themselves. If an industry is over-saturated, no further employment is possible, hence students realise that it’s a dead-end career and would choose an alternative course.

I think you will find that having a large part of the workforce university educated, even though some may not be in the most appropriate field, benefits the whole island.

I do say that with slight hesitation though, as I know there is a large number of students who educate themselves beyond their analytical ability.