Pharmaceutical science students to get higher stipends

Students of pharmaceutical science at the University of Malta will be granted a higher stipend and initial financial grant, the education ministry has announced.

Education minister Evarist Bartolo said that the decision was taken to incentivize more students to take up a B.Sc in pharmaceutical science. He also said that pharmaceutical science students were, for a number of years, denied an equal playing field with those following other similar courses.

The change will come into effect as from this month and will be included in the next stipend payment for students in August.

Bartolo said that there was a noteworthy increase in the number of Form 3 students who have chosen a science subject for the upcoming scholastic year, with 550 students taking up biology and 300 students taking up chemistry during this September’s intake.

“These numbers are the result of a collaboration between the Education Directorate and the private sector to promote the science subjects, and their potential in industry, in schools during the past year,” he said.