The Education Ministry is defending its University maintenance grants in spite of a European Commission report blaming stipends for delivering less than satisfactory outcomes while increasing public spending.

According to the Ecofin Country Focus, published earlier this month, it is doubtful how much maintenance grants actually lead to increased participation in tertiary education.

This seems to echo the Chalmers Report, which in 2004 had questioned whether grants should continue to be universally applied and had mooted the introduction of tuition fees.

This year, the government will be spending €21 million in student maintenance grants. During the last election campaign, the Nationalist Party had made a fresh pledge to maintain the system.

However, the ministry said the amount was justified if the number of students entitled to a stipend and the amount they should receive was calculated. "Where there is a registered increase in the expenditure of stipends from one year to another, this should be seen as a positive sign that more students are enrolling in our post-secondary institutions," a ministry spokesman said when contacted. Although the National Commission for Higher Education is reviewing the student maintenance grants system, the spokesman said the government was "committed" to the maintenance grants issue, even after the Chalmers Report.

The commission is now examining Malta's adherence to EU regulations in terms of the right to such a grant. The review is also intended to identify the strengths, weakness and anomalies of the system.

Asked whether stipends should be means-tested, the spokesman said this posed the question of whether students should be tested as individuals or on the basis of their family's income.

Many argue that the basic stipend of some €80 a month is not enough for people who need it and unnecessary for those who can afford it. The spokesman said those coming from a difficult financial background could apply for a supplementary means-tested grant. Over 1,000 students are receiving such supplementary grant this year.

According to the report, Malta's performance in tertiary education is below average, with the "relatively generous grants" to students appearing to "deliver less than satisfactory outcomes".

Improving the efficiency of spending would allow the tertiary enrolment rate to rise to about 52 per cent from the present 26 per cent. This suggests that a more efficient transformation of spending in tertiary education output could lead to higher educational attainment levels in Malta, the report says.

Asked whether it would be better to use the millions of euros spent in maintenance grants to boost research that can be used by students, the ministry spokesman said the government was investing in research by allocating more money to the University and to the Malta College of Art, Science and Technology.

However, the amount the government spends in maintenance grants is almost double what is spent on research. In fact, public expenditure on research stands at €11.3 million, according to the ministry, substantially lower than the €21 million being spent on maintenance grants this year. The spokesman said this year the government invested €1.5 million in the University for research and the library.