Education Minister Louis Galea said yesterday that the new stipends system would not mean a smaller government outlay.
Replying to questions in Parliament by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi and Labour MPs Evarist Bartolo and George Vella, Dr Galea said next year's financial allocation for stipends would be considerably more than this year's, not least because of the growing number of students at the University, the Junior College and MCAST. By 2010, spending on stipends would rise from the current Lm8 million to Lm13 million. Although spending under the old system would have been higher, the Maltese stipends system was still among the most generous in the world.
Dr Galea pointed out that the Chalmers report had proposed to the government that it should substantially reduce the stipends, with the funds being channelled to the educational institutions concerned. It had been suggested that stipends should not be given to all students but only those having particular financial needs, who would have been subjected to a means test. There were also proposals for the introduction of a loans scheme for students and the introduction of fees for university courses.
The government had considered all these proposals but concluded that in the national interest and in view of the needs of socio-economic development the system needed to be sustained and stipends should continue to be given to all students.
The stipend which would be given to the new students (Lm40 monthly) was considered reasonable, and the capital grant at the beginning of courses had been reduced to Lm200 from Lm400. At the same time a process had been launched whereby students following courses seen as particularly beneficial for the economy, such as science, technology and engineering, would get Lm70 monthly instead of the current Lm60 and the initial grant would be Lm300. Mr Bartolo recalled that when the Labour government had changed the stipends system, Dr Galea as opposition spokesman for education, had warned that reducing stipends would mean imposing a burden on families with low income. So what now, when the stipends were being reduced even though costs had risen? He calculated that the reduction of the stipend for the ordinary courses to Lm40 monthly from the current Lm60 would save the government Lm360,000 next year.
Dr Galea said the Labour government in 1997 decided to change the stipends without any consultations. It was also worth pointing out that the new stipends would still be considerably higher than under the Labour government.
The present government was acting very differently to what Labour had done. In 1998 it set up the Galdes commission which made various recommendations on the stipends system which were eventually adopted. That commission also proposed another review in five years' time, and that too had been done through the studies headed by Roderick Chalmers.
The new system, still one of the most generous in the world, was introduced after careful analysis of the situation and months of talks, as the president of the University Students' Council (KSU) had pointed out.
While some Lm8 million were being spent on stipends now, this was projected to rise to Lm13 million by 2010. It was true that under the old system, the outlay would have been higher, but the arguments made in the Chalmers report on the sustainability of the system had also needed to be given importance while achieving the objectives of keeping the university accessible to all students, leaving subject choice free, giving stipends to all students while also giving incentives to students who opted for particular courses.
Dr Galea said a scholarships fund would be gradually built up to further encourage students to reach higher standards in post- graduate training. Such scholarships would gradually lead to the growth of a cadre of expertise and new emphasis on research and development.
It was also planned that the Youth Studies Specialisation Scheme, which currently provided advantageous loans for overseas studies would be extended to post-graduate studies in Maltese institutions.