Students who have applied for government scholarships to do post-graduate courses, both in Malta and abroad, are still waiting to find out if they have been accepted.

A number of students who spoke to Times of Malta on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution, said the deadline for submissions was the start of October but, despite having started their courses, they had yet to be informed if they were successful. In the past, the interviews have been held soon after the applications were submitted.

This has not been the case this year. Scholarships are granted under the Endeavour Scholarship Scheme and the Tertiary Education Scholarship Scheme, with students who applied reading for either a Master’s degree or a PhD.

Students are eligible for different funding packages that are determined by the courses they choose to follow and own financial means. In recent years, hundreds of students have benefitted from the schemes, with the popular Endeavour scheme seeing some 620 participants since its launch in 2014. When asked, the Ministry of Education did not say how many students were involved this year.

One student said he had to resort to taking up more part-time jobs to make ends meet, which would take time away from his research work.

Saying he had not yet received “any kind of acknowledgement or interview dates”, the student said he had no other option but to work the extra jobs as his course expenses were now at their peak. Another student said that while trying to work on assignments and studying for exams, the question of whether she would be “lucky enough to be given a scholarship” was constantly in the back of her mind.

This year’s delay raises the question whether the scholarship results should be announced before the start of the scholastic year.

A spokeswoman for the Education Ministry assured Times of Malta there were “no issues” with the funding schemes.

“The Ministry for Education and Employment genuinely regrets the delay in the processing of applications for scholarship. This was due to a number of key resignations at higher management level, which have stalled the administration process coupled with a number of vacant posts in the department that have not yet been filled,” she explained.

The ministry was facing a number of “challenges” which it was determined to resolve. Interviews and other pending decisions would be addressed “in the coming weeks”, the spokeswoman said.