Education is Key in Underpinning Economic Development – Albert Isola MP

An interesting article in Finextra (https://bit.ly/3EZY59L) offered commentary on a recent report by the Luxembourg for Finance (LFF) Agency highlighting a generally held view that the financial services sector faces a mismatch of present skill sets and those required in a dynamically evolving industry. Perhaps this is felt most keenly in the technology sector where trained and developed technologists are in high demand.

HM Government of Gibraltar has always very keenly understood and supported the need to provide educational opportunities, at all levels, to our community in order to upskill successive generations and fill the many varied roles our growing economy demands.

In developing our strategy following the launch of the DLT Regulatory Framework in 2018, we considered how best we could support the resource requirements of firms that sought the regulatory certainty offered by our permissions regime. Underpinning our vision is our often-stated ambition of investing in a long-term sustainable business model.

The onus is not solely on new recruits, states the report which is I agree with. It is also a matter of re-skilling existing colleagues particularly in how new technologies can support the various functions in a business.

We have delivered on a number of initiatives alongside the traditional educational pathways and they are worthy of mention.

The University of Gibraltar lead on the New Technology in Education Key Advisory Group (NTiE - https://bit.ly/3Sk5eF1) a multi-disciplinary group that has a direct link with industry and segment leaders. These experts, being members of Gibraltar’s technology and education sectors, each bring unique experience and expertise and help to drive the University’s curriculum forward. Over time courses have been developed and delivered such as Professional Certificate of Competence in Blockchain and Smart Contracts and more recently BSc (Hons) Computing and Entrepreneurship.

More recently, the Digital Skills Academy (https://bit.ly/3VIDDjI) has been celebrating the first anniversary since its establishment and goes from strength to strength. The Academy is an innovative and flexible learning environment, bridging the education and industry gap. It aims to close the gender, skills and technology gap through educational initiatives, training partnerships with various entities and working with the community at large to identify where they can help those in need.

There is no doubt in my mind that, as a jurisdiction, we will continue to invest in the future of our community and support the firms that look to Gibraltar as their regulatory home. Clearly, this is essential for our continued growth and development as a modern financial services jurisdiction.