Eighty scholarships have been awarded under the Malta Government Scholarship Scheme closing a year which broke a number of records for scholarships awarded, the Ministry of Education said.

A total of 45 PHD and 35 at Masters Level were awarded, with the fields of specialisation varying from finance to the environment.

The presentations were made yesterday by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

He said the government was committed to offer incentives for specialisation, which in turn would give the country a competitive edge.

The scheme complements other scholarship programmes, such as the Master It, Malta Arts Scholarships and Malta Sports Scholarships, to support individuals who wish to further continue their studies.

At the Masters level, eleven scholarships were awarded in areas relating to health, six in education and four in the environment. Other areas included finance, IT, engineering, manufacturing and family therapy.

At the Doctorate level, 17 were awarded in areas relating to education, five in the health sector and another five in applied science. Other areas included psychology, finance, social science, art history, manufacturing, environment, IT, law and tourism studies.