Education Minister Dolores Cristina repeatedly pledged in Parliament that tertiary education for Maltese students would continue to be free, irrespective of their financial means.
Answering a question by Anthony Agius Decelis (PL), she said that once the university concluded the appointment of a rector in a few weeks’ time, talks would be launched on any administrative changes necessary in the current system.
Pressed by Labour MP Owen Bonnici over whether current benefits would continue to be given, she said proposals were still to be developed, but different models would be looked into that would not lead to any less benefits to students.
She said one proposal was for cost-based fees, scholarships or grants. She would be able to say more once the project got under way. Asked by Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat to confirm it was not the government’s policy to keep the status quo, she said she was not saying that. She was only saying that new models of financing the university, and therefore its students, would not be excluded. This year would be the time for decisions.
To date there had not been any hard-and-fast proposals except those one could have read in the media, which had not been entered into deeply.
Dr Bonnici asked how the government could say it was ready to embrace new models if the proposals were not yet known.
Mrs Cristina said there were also foreign students, and all parameters must be looked at. She was seeking new models to give Maltese students what the government wanted to give, without throwing doors wide open to whoever came along. What she could guarantee was that any new system would not lead to Maltese students paying for tertiary education.
Dr Bonnici asked if, once the concept of non-payment had been established, students would continue to receive current benefits, which meant that any change would involve only non-Maltese students. Was there any possibility of changes in the current benefits?
Minister Cristina said the overall quantum should not be affected. Other models could be looked at that would amount to the same levels of benefits.