Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has insisted that the government disagrees with comments by the Governor of the Central Bank that students' stipends should be limited to those who are really in need.

The Governor had been making this argument for a long time, but the government's position was completely different, Mr Fenech said.

He said the stipend system was intended to ensure more people following tertiary education.

"We do not believe we are wasting resources," the minister said.

He pointed out that the government had recently extended the stipends to adults on minimum wage who accept to attend training.

In his comments late on Friday, Mr Bonello said Malta needed to invest more, and more efficiently. Malta’s educational attainment levels in particular, though improving, remained low. In 2009 just over one quarter of adults aged between 25 and 64, much less than half the EU average, had completed at least an upper secondary level of education.

"The solution here does not lie solely in allocating more resources. It is also a question of how the money is spent."

According to a recent study, he said, public spending on education in Malta amounted to around 5.5% of GDP, which was above the EU average. But the study also showed that this spending was not very efficient, especially in the case of tertiary education. Despite the significant amounts spent, Malta’s tertiary educational attainment level, at 21.1%, was well below the EU average of 32.3% and the Europe 2020 target of 40%.

This situation had to be reversed because well-remunerated jobs could not be created in the absence of high-quality post-secondary education. As the recent Browne report in the UK stressed, higher education drove innovation and economic transformation.

"The University of Malta, however, is short of funds. One way of tackling this deficiency would be to limit stipend support to students who are truly in need. This would ensure that access to a university education remains open to everyone with the potential to benefit from it, while releasing funds for improving its quality. It would also address an issue of equity: since a tertiary level education is the key to better-paid jobs and higher lifetime incomes, it is appropriate that those who benefit most from it should contribute at least part of the costs involved," Mr Bonello said.

The Governor's comments, predictably, drew criticism from students' organisations.

See

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101120/local/governor-suggests-limiting-stipends-to-those-truly-in-need