Students who applied for a grant under the tertiary education scholarship scheme are still awaiting selection results, despite the regulations saying courses should have started by the end of last year.

Speaking to Times of Malta on condition of anonymity, affected students said that while in previous years the results were published in September, this year’s deadline for submission of applications was moved forward to October.

According to the scholarship regulations, published on the government’s website, students had to also submit a letter of acceptance from the University they planned to attend by September 5.

Yet, it has now emerged that the results have still to be released, with those unable to fork out the money for the course, especially those who were relying on the scholarship to attend a university abroad, having to either drop out or postpone their studies.

If a student decides to forge ahead with study plans, they risk not being selected for the scholarship, thus having to pay fees that often amounted to thousands of euros, one student pointed out.

Apart from course fees, the scholarship also offers “additional allowances”, including grants for those studying abroad, students having children as well as those who are married or who have a disability.

In a terse reply to questions by Times of Malta, a government spokeswoman said “the appeal stages of the process is still ongoing”.

The scholarship office would publish the results once everything was finalised, she added. Questions on what had caused the delay remained unanswered.

Students who tried to contact the government’s scholarships unit said they were told in December the results would be announced “in the coming days” but no additional information was given.

According to the government website, the scheme is aimed at supporting “quality tertiary education” from MQF Level 7 (Master’s degree) upwards and “to seek to contribute towards the Maltese labour market with the right skilled individuals”.

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