“Today we announced five scholarship schemes worth more than two million euros. This is an important investment for our students and also for our country. Human resource is the best resource Malta can offer and it is very important that we continue to invest in people’s skills”, said Minister for Education Justyne Caruana, who was also accompanied by the Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi for the scholarships’ launch.
Minister Caruana said that this year, there are five scholarships calls for five very important sectors which will not only benefit our students, the applicants, but will also benefit the performance of the economic development of our country.
Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi said that the Endeavour Scheme amounts to €10.8 million financed by European funds and so far, around 1,000 students have benefited from it. He also explained how during this year, around €800,000 were allocated to the Endeavour Scholarships Scheme. The parliamentary secretary stated that this scheme gives priority to those who want to study in a particular sector, such as Finance and Management, ICT, health, tourism and hospitality, transport, logistics and science.
The parliamentary secretary also stated that this government aims to continue to provide more educational opportunities for all, reaffirming our strong commitment to invest more in the Maltese and Gozitans to allow them reach their full potential.
The government’s commitment to the education sector aims to provide the best opportunities for students and allow them to have a positive experience in the shaping of their educational and personal career path. The government believes in the abilities of the students and wants to give them the best opportunities in the education sector.
The scholarships are as follows:
• Tertiary Education Scholarships Scheme TESS: €370,000 are available for this scheme. TESS is another scheme open to postgraduate students and aims to provide funding opportunities for students to be able to pursue higher education curricula and encourage students to increase their levels of academic research. Positive changes have been made to this scheme this year. Awardees will receive the scholarship from the first year of studies instead of from the current year they are in.
• Art Scholarships Scheme: €330,000 will be distributed through this scheme. The ministry is also giving importance to the arts sector because it believes that this is the pulse and soul of a vibrant and progressive nation.
• Sports Scholarships: An investment of €130,000 is allocated for the Sports Scheme. Sport is being taken to the professional level and promotes the development of high-performance athletes who will eventually represent Malta in international competitions.
• Veterinary Scholarships: Half a million is being allocated to this new scholarship scheme which started last year. Last year, 30 scholarships were awarded under the VETS scheme. This year students will also have a job opportunity once they successfully complete their studies.
• Endeavour Scholarship: This is a €10.8 million project in a scheme that is supporting good quality tertiary education and ensuring that the Maltese labour market has the best human resources and to guarantee a better position to compete in the international market. The Endeavour Scheme is part-financed by the European Union’s Operational Program II – Cohesion Policy 2014-2020. €800,000 are being allocated for this year’s call.
In addition, later this year a new scheme Live The Language (Ltl) – Malta Foreign Languages Grants Scheme will be launched for young people to benefit from a grant to learn a foreign language abroad, which will be introduced. The main objectives of this scheme are to provide young people with the possibility to pursue language training in the respective country; promoting the appreciation of foreign languages and alleviating foreign language skills gaps, among others. There will be a grant of €850 per person.
Details about the schemes can be found on myscholarship.gov.mt.
