Broader stipends to benefit 55 students

An estimated 55 students will start receiving a stipend from October as the government announced a broader net for the compensation scheme.

From the coming academic year, mature students attending post-secondary and tertiary institutions and students with a disability attending the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology receive a stipend.

The move has been hailed by economist Lawrence Zammit and Labour Party education spokesman Evarist Bartolo said he was in favour of giving a stipend to people with a disability and to mature students.

Mr Zammit said that, while such an extension might be seen as an additional expense in the short term, in the long run it would be an investment. "As a country we need to make sure more people continue with their education," he said.

Mr Zammit said that in the long-term the extension of stipends should lead to a higher-skilled workforce and boost more value-added skills, which should, in turn, help the economy and potentially attract foreign investment.

He said extending stipends to mature students was a good step because there were some people who had missed out on further education when they were younger.

The Education Ministry said the stipend system was being broadened in line with the government's plans to encourage more students to continue their education to reach the Lisbon Agenda targets by 2015.

"This should also serve to encourage more people, particularly women, to further their studies and return to the labour market," a ministry spokesman said.

He said the government was committed to keep investing in education and maintenance grants were part of such investment.

"It is a known fact that a number of students will drop out of the system were it not for the maintenance grant system," he said, adding that the extension would not eat into the money voted for other aspects of education.

In February, a European Commission report blamed stipends for delivering less than satisfactory outcomes while increasing public spending, saying it was doubtful how much maintenance grants actually led to increased participation in tertiary education.

A report on higher education funding, published in 2004 by a working committee headed by Roderick Chalmers, had pointed out that investment in tertiary education was below EU levels and a disproportionate amount of the investment went into student support.

The report had questioned whether grants should continue to be universally applied and had mooted the introduction of tuition fees. Mr Chalmers had said the situation was "irreversibly broken and requires revision".

Although he was in favour of the move, Mr Bartolo criticised the government for having no sense of priority. Instead of using millions of euros for a new Parliament building, he would prefer to see the money spent on education.

"Forty per cent of our young people leave secondary schools every year unskilled, unqualified and deprived of a promising future. Their future is much more important than a new Parliament building," he said.

He added it was a pity that University education was discussed very narrowly, always with stipends in mind, when the quality of education and its relevance to the country's future needs and aspirations to thrive in the 21st century was what should be on the agenda.