Job seekers who continue studying will not only receive unemployment benefit but also a stipend, Labour Leader Joseph Muscat pledged yesterday.

A Labour government would give a second chance to students who did not attain the required qualifications

He said it was one of several measures the Labour Party was proposing to encourage more people to further their studies.

A Labour government would give a second chance to students who did not attain the required qualifications to start a University course and would need to repeat a year at Junior College, the Higher Secondary or the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology. They would not lose their stipend when repeating the year, Dr Muscat said.

Dr Muscat pledged more funds for the University, especially for investment in research and development and also for innovation.

He referred to Labour’s pledge to top up stipends with the cost-of-living-allowance, to grant tax credits equivalent to the interest students pay on bank loans to follow a course by a foreign University and a tax credit of €25,000 for those following Ph.D courses.

Dr Muscat said the University’s budget would be increased, adding that his party had held consultation meetings with heads of department and lecturers on what areas should be addressed first and which department needed its budget enhanced.

Referring to University equipment purchased through EU funds, Dr Muscat said his government would earmark funds for such equipment to be properly maintained.

Addressing a press conference, he said his party believed in pluralism in education and would be encouraging the setting up of more post-secondary and tertiary institutions run by the private sector “so that students will have more from where to choose”.

He hit out at the Government for how EU Erasmus scholarships funding was cut, saying an Ombudsman inquiry revealed there was “no procedural fairness” as the repercussions of a mistake were placed on those who were not to blame while political responsibility was not shouldered.