MALTA: Non-EU students pay high fees

In Malta, the Mediterranean island with 400,000 inhabitants, higher education is almost totally funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. The ministry also decides on university fee regulations through legislation and non-EU students face heavy tuition charges.

Malta has been a member of the European Union since 2004 and regards itself as a bridging-country between Europe and North Africa.

The University of Malta is the major academic institution and can trace its roots to the 16th century. Today, the university has 10,000 students and some 750 foreign students, the majority on exchange, as well as an academic staff of about 800.

Maltese and English are both official languages although the language of tuition at the university is English. Full-time study during the day at bachelor level is free for Maltese and EU students but fees are payable by those outside the EU, as are Maltese and EU students who enrol in programmes "predominantly held outside office hours" and study part-time. Again, non-EU students pay higher fees.

The 2010 charge for undergraduate diplomas and degrees part-time for Maltese-EU students vary from EUR230 to EUR1164 a year. Non-EU students enrolled in full time degree programmes face a yearly fee of EUR7,000 in arts subjects and EUR9,000 for science-based courses at bachelor level, increasing to EUR23,000 for the course leading to doctor of medicine and surgery.

These sums represent a major increase since 2001when non-EU students typically paid EUR2,500-4,500 a year for bachelor level courses, depending upon whether the course undertaken was in the arts or the sciences.

As a result of the Bologna process, the university has introduced some international master degrees and joint study programmes with other universities. For these, tuition fees have to be paid by Maltese-EU and non-EU students.

Rector of the University of Malta, Professor Juanito Camilleri, in an interview last year said, "Stipends, funding, tuition fees all need to change,"

Camilleri commented on the stipends system as an important mechanism to encourage more students to seek a university education. He said he agreed to such a grant programme but that it needed to be fine-tuned. For master degrees, there needed to be a fee possibility accompanied by a system of scholarships and soft loans.

The statement reflected the economic reality top-management university officers experience today: how to find new ways of funding outside the traditional channels. Between 2006 and 2009, the university had a 40% increase in its budget.

"Is this enough?" Camilleri asked. "We always need more and more. You can give me double and triple the budget and we will find where to spend it and spend it well. The university cannot keep turning to government when it needs money. It has to find other ways to fund itself."