Students reading for their first degrees in Malta get some of the best financial support in Europe, according to a new European Commission report.
In its report for 2017/18 on national student fee and support systems in higher education, Eurydice singled out Malta as the country which offers most grants while charging fees to the least number of students reading for their first degrees in higher education.
The review of country systems also says how Malta charges no fees for first degrees while 93% of students following first degrees receive grants. This places Malta as the country offering the highest amount of support to students studying for first degrees in Europe.
The report shows how fee and support systems (including grants and loans) interact in higher education in Europe. It describes the range of fees charged to students, specifying the categories of students that are required to pay and those who may be exempt.
Similarly, it looks at the types and amounts of public support available in the form of grants and loans, as well as tax benefits and family allowances, where applicable.
Among the 43 studied higher education systems, nine have a systematic no-fee policy for first-cycle full-time home students.
This group includes five systems situated in northern Europe, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom, as well as Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey.
In contrast, in 11 higher education systems – situated in different parts of Europe – all first-cycle students pay fees.
Around half of the studied systems were between these two polls.
The share of fee-payers in these systems commonly reflects different policies.
For example, in some systems, fee exceptions are possible, but are available only for specific categories of students – such as students from low-income families, orphans or disabled students.
In Greece, Cyprus, Malta and the UK, no fees are charged to first cycle full-time students, but students in the second cycle generally pay fees.
Turkey also belongs to this group, but the fee charged to second-cycle day-time students was described as nominal.
Malta was also among a select few countries with no-fee policy for full-time first-cycle students which coincided with a universal fee policy.
All European countries offer at least one type of direct public financial support – grants or loans – to their first-cycle higher education students.
Malta’s system was one of just seven countries where this was not subject to criteria.
In Malta, all short- and first-cycle full-time students are eligible for a student maintenance grant.