Three female students become Microsoft Office specialists

Currently in Malta, only one out of five women work in ICT

“Industry ICT certifications are increasingly becoming more preferred than formal certifications because business feels that the requirements that these certifications hold are closer to the requirements needed by the industry at large.”

This was stated by Carm Cachia from the eSkills Malta Foundation during the presentation of prizes to three young Maltese students who participated in the first edition of the Microsoft Office Championship.

The Microsoft Office Championship is a global competition organised by Microsoft and Certiport. In Malta, the competition was organised by Certadria local partners, SG Solutions Limited, with the support of the eSkills Malta Foundation and the Microsoft Innovation Centre as a Certiport Authorised Testing Centre for Microsoft Office Specialist exams.

The national competition in Malta was open to all students from secondary to high school or university, within the ages of 13 to 22 who were given the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in Microsoft Office products namely Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

The winners and top achievers in the respective exams were Jodie Albani Wilson from St Martin’s College who won the Microsoft Office Specialist PowerPoint, Julianne Vella from San Andrea School who was awarded the Microsoft Office Specialist for Excel and Rianne Azzopardi from Maria Regina College Mosta Secondary School who won the Microsoft Office Specialist for Word.

“In Malta, only one in every five people employed in the IT sector are women and I find it extremely encouraging that the winners of this championship are all females, especially when one considers all the work that the Microsoft Innovation Centre is doing to attract more females to consider IT as a career,” said Mary Downing, manager of the Microsoft Innovation Centre.

“Microsoft’s support to this competition stems from our commitment for the MIC to inspire more innovation on the island. We are dealing with a widening gap between being digitally native and being digitally literate. Today’s generation needs to be more digitally literate to access the working place. Being a Microsoft Office Specialist boosts one’s career prospects especially given that this qualification enjoys international recognition on a global level,” Downing added.