EURO18 million in funds from EU educational programmes

Malta has benefited from over 18 million euros in funding from the European Union programmes; Socrates, Leonardo, Youth and the 5th and 6th Framework Programmes with thousands of persons benefiting from such funds, Education, Youth and Employment Minister Louis Galea said yesterday.

Speaking during the contract award ceremony organised by the Leonardo da Vinci National Agency, Minister Galea said that from this programme alone, 1,300 beneficiaries had made use of over 3 million euros in funding.

He said that since Malta joined the EU, funds for the Leonardo Programme increased from 296,000 euros to 425,000 euros for this year. A total of 67 applications were submitted for a total request of 723,199 euros with 50 projects approved coming from various entities such as MCAST, the University, ETC, MIA, and the MHRA, he added.

Minister Galea said that the EU programmes have, from the very start, resulted in very tangible benefits for all sectors of the Maltese population.

As more time passes and the more the projects and programmes funded by the EU start to take shape, the more we will realise how wise it was to join the union.

The Leonardo National Agency will be working to attract more organisations from the private sector and SME’s to participate in next year’s call.