Maintenance grants for studies abroad

Mr Silvan Said writes:
My daughter has been awarded a scholarship to read Bachelor of Music at a university in Scotland, specialising in voice. The course in question is not offered in Malta and this is why she will not be attending the University of Malta.

Yet, according to Maltese law she will lose her right to the maintenance grant that is otherwise paid to Maltese students. In my view, this law is discriminatory since it is denying equal opportunities to all Maltese students.

The student maintenance grant is even more important in this case considering that my daughter will have to pay for accommodation and subsistence outside her home and the travelling to and from (which include hefty air travel taxes to boot!).

Without the financial assistance of the grant, maintaining our daughter's living expenses for four years in a university abroad and travelling to and fro, puts a much heavier burden on us than parents whose children attend the University of Malta.

I also feel that this law is also against the free movement of persons because it discourages students from leaving Malta to study in universities abroad by means of financial penalties as a result of loss of maintenance grant.

I would be grateful for your opinion on whether I have a basis for contesting this decision under the principle of free movement of persons.

I understand the reader's concern because in this case his daughter will follow a course which is not offered in Malta. However, my understanding is that this situation is not covered by EU law.

The possibility of taking one's social entitlements when one travels abroad is often referred to as "portability" of benefits. Portability of maintenance grants is not covered by EU law.

Maintenance grants are a social measure which fall within the competence of individual national governments, not the EU. It is therefore up to national governments to determine which kind of social benefits are granted, their rate as well as who is to be eligible for them.

Even at the level of the European Court of Justice, the portability of the maintenance grants has never been upheld as a right.

Cases on maintenance grants which I have seen have been limited to situations where a student claimed entitlement from the country where he or she is studying and not from his or her own country of origin, as in this case. However, EU law makes it clear that the free movement of students to other EU countries gives them entitlement to equal treatment in as far as tuition is concerned. But not to maintenance grants.

Understandably, EU governments have been keen to keep things this way fearing that opening up maintenance grants to non-nationals may have significant financial consequences on their social assistance budget. On its part, the European Court has been careful not to disturb this point.

In this particular case, the situation is reversed since the reader is enquiring about a right to a stipend from the country of origin (Malta) and not from the country where the student is studying (UK). But, again, since portability is not covered by EU law there cannot be a breach of law.

Although free movement is involved in this case, I feel that arguing that free movement is discouraged "by means of financial penalties as a result of loss of maintenance grant" would be stretching it somewhat since there is no penalty here but a case of ineligibility.

So my assessment is that there is no EU case here. However, this does not mean that national education authorities may not allow portability of maintenance grants. It simply means that it is within their discretion to do so.

Indeed, some European countries, such as Denmark, do allow portability under certain conditions.

Moreover, it has to be said that the portability of maintenance grants is also being discussed at European level, albeit not within the EU framework but within a wider European education forum known as the Bologna Process. However, my understanding is that no final decision or binding commitment has yet been adopted in this forum.

In all fairness to the reader, this student is only following a course abroad because it is not offered in Malta. It would therefore be reasonable on the part of our national education authorities to consider the possibility of portability of maintenance grants, at least, in cases where it is established that the courses are not offered in Malta.

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