Governor backs proposed changes to stipends system

Central Bank Governor Michael Bonello said today that he supported a University Rector proposal for changes in the stipends system.

The Rector, Prof Juanito Camilleri, proposed some weeks ago that students should be able to choose whether or not they should receive a stipend. Those who opted for it would be required to repay the money once they graduated and got a job, and those who didn't would be donating it to a university trust fund and would receive tax cuts once they graduated and got a job.

Mr Bonello said this was a 'very sensible' proposal based on solidarity, since it would ensure that future students too would be able to get a stipend and the system would remain sustainable.

Mr Bonello said Malta needed to discuss its spending on health and education, which were absorbing a quarter of the country's expenditure and producing less efficient outcomes compared to the EU average.