New scholarship project expanded

The first four traineeships/scholarships in the commercial and professional sectors to be offered by the Maltese government have been awarded.

Originally it was planned to award only one scholarship but the response was such that it was decided to increase them to four. The candidates, who had to be Maltese or of Maltese origin, applied from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

The Maltese High Commissioner, Ivan Fsadni, told me that the applications were of a high calibre and had a wide appeal, which is most encouraging. He is most heartened by the participation of overseas private co-sponsors in the project of the Maltese government. This obviously augurs very well and one hopes that other initiatives will be similarly encouraged and backed.

South Australia has scored two successes. Christopher Abdilla, 24, from Salisbury East, Adelaide, graduated in civil engineering from the University of South Australia in 2002. He has since been involved for some two years in a number of infrastructural projects. In Malta, Mr Abdilla will be gaining experience in the Directorate for Roads.

Marika Scicluna, 27, from Thebarton, Adelaide, has been running her own private physiotherapy clinic since 1999. She graduated from the University of South Australia in 1997. In Malta she will be collaborating with the Razzett tal-Hbiberija.

Another successful candidate, Adam Fenech, 23, comes from Blacktown, NSW. He is a computer science and technology graduate from the University of New South Wales and is employed by the telecommunications giant, Telstra.

Clare Darmanin, 24, from Avondale Heights, Melbourne, graduated in law and psychology from Deakin University in 2002 and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in November of last year. She hopes to gain work experience at the Merchant Shipping Directorate of the Maritime Authority during her stay in Malta.

These four sponsorships are separate from and additional to the linguistic and cultural scholarship offered annually by the High Commission in Canberra. The current beneficiary of that sponsorship is Antoine Mangion, 20, from Blacktown, who has been studying at the University of Malta since February.

Clare Darmanin and Marika Scicluna also are already in Malta and Christopher Abdilla is expected to leave before the end of April. Adam Fenech will be going later in the year.

The work placements are for a minimum of four months but there is some flexibility and each one's duration is agreed during negotiations between the successful applicant and the employer in Malta. Traineeship/scholarship holders are expected to return to Australia some time after their award ends but this is a gentleman's agreement and no formal contract is entered into.

The traineeship/scholarship does not provide accommodation for the successful applicants, unlike the language ones.

"They are paid for the work they do at their work placement and they are expected to provide for their own board and lodging. The return air fare is covered by the traineeship/scholarship," Dr Fsadni told me.

"The language scholarship is more generous and provides accommodation, if needed, plus a Lm150 per month subsistence allowance. Most of the scholarship holders do not make use of the free accommodation as they prefer to stay with relatives. This is encouraged as they practise Maltese with their relatives more than if they used student accommodation which, in Malta, is usually for foreign students. This scholarship is more generous because the scholarship holder studies full-time and does not earn any money," he added.

Dr Fsadni is particularly pleased with three aspects of this new initiative because, firstly, it is the first time that a Maltese-Australian association in Australia is co-sponsoring a scholarship offered by the Maltese government to Maltese citizens and persons of Maltese descent living in Australia.

Secondly, he was more than satisfied with the positive response received from young business/professionals in Australia with a healthy number of applicants from a wide geographic area. It is also laying the foundations for more business/professional links between the Maltese in Malta and the Maltese in Australia and will hopefully provide future second generation Maltese-Australian leaders for the Maltese-Australian communities.