Steps In the right direction

Malta Independent Tuesday, 3 February 2009, 00:00 Last update: about 12 years ago

Last week, Education Minister Dolores Cristina launched two scholarship schemes, co-financed by the EU’s European Social Fund (ESF). With a total funding of e10.6 million, the two schemes aim at providing more opportunities to promote further specialisation in the priority sectors of the knowledge-based economy in Malta.

One of the schemes is targeted to provide education in the area of career guidance with the aim of developing effective services in educational and training institutions at all levels of the career path. The scheme, the Career Guidance Capacity Building Scholarship Scheme (CGCB), supports 12-36 months part-time post-graduate/distance learning diploma or masters courses. Joint degrees or split-site programmes may be considered as long as documentation is provided indicating the lead degree awarding institution. The application deadline is 27 February.

The second scheme addresses a much wider spectrum of priority areas as identified in the Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2007-2013 Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life. The scheme is called the Strategic Educational Pathways Scholarships (STEPS).

It is spread over five years, until 2013, aiming to support 12-36 months masters programmes on full time, part-time and distance learning. The last call for masters programmes under this scheme will be in May, 2012.

STEPS will support 36-48 months, full time doctoral postgraduate courses. Distance learning doctoral programmes shall not be considered under this scheme. The last call for doctoral programmes under this scheme will be in May 2010

In both cases joint degrees or split-site programmes may be considered as long as documentation is provided indicating the lead degree awarding institution.

Applicants may choose to study at any local or international university or higher education institution for a specific programme of study or research. Only those institutions recognised by the Maltese authorities shall be taken into consideration by the STEPS board.

Applications and regulations may be downloaded from the Education Ministry’s website (www.education.gov.mt). The closing date of the first call of application is 6 March. There will be two other calls within the coming 12 months. The call in May will have a 15 June closing date. Another call in November will have a deadline on 15 January, 2010.