Proposal to link stipends to level of studies

Students should be granted stipends according to their level of studies and not the institution they attend, the National Commission for Higher Education has recommended.

Stipends are given to those who attend institutions listed in the Students Maintenance Grant Regulations, which include the University of Malta, the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology, Junior College and other sixth forms.

The commission recommended changing the system so grants would vary according to the students' level of studies as listed in the National Qualifications Framework.

The NCHE also recommended empowering the Student Maintenance Grants Board, which manages the allocation of stipends, to evaluate types of programmes offered by private or foreign institutions for formal recognition.

These were among the various recommendations listed in the commission's Further and Higher Education Strategy 2020. The report, launched yesterday, outlined 12 strategic priorities to reach the government's 2020 vision for excellence.

According to the commission's financial forecasts, total student support (which includes scholarships, stipends and educational schemes) stood at just over €20 million last year.

This was expected to increase to about €23 million in 2020 if the government was to reach its 2020 vision to have 85 per cent of 17-year-olds in post-secondary education by 2015 and increase the participation rate of 19-year-olds at the University to 35 per cent by 2020.

The commission recommended sustaining the student support schemes which the government promised to keep.

Speaking during the launch of an economic report last week, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi pledged to continue investing in education and retain the stipends: "We need to ensure a system of high quality education".

The Parliamentary Secretary for Revenues, Jason Azzopardi recently also told University students that stipends were "essential" and sustainable in their present form.

He had just been presented with the survey results drawn up by the Christian-Democrat Students (SDM), which found that almost 90 per cent of students believed stipends were a necessity.