EU report ranks Malta top in offering students tertiary education support

Malta has been ranked as the country in Europe which offers most support to students studying for first degrees within tertiary education.

In its report for 2017/18 on national student fees and support systems in higher education, Eurydice identified Malta as the country which offers grants to the highest percentage of students, while charging fees to the least number of students following first degrees in . The study indicates that Malta charges no fees for first degrees while 93 per cent of students following first degrees receive grants.

This places Malta as the country which offers the highest amount of support to students studying for first degrees in Europe. The countries which rank immediately after Malta in this regard are Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.

The study was carried out among 38 countries: the 28 EU member states as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey. The 38 participating countries are covered by 43 higher education systems (Belgium is covered by three separate systems – the French Community of Belgium, the Flemish Community of Belgium and the German-Speaking Community of Belgium – and the United Kingdom by four across in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland).

Eurydice is a network funded by the European Commission to research education systems and their organisation in Europe. It publishes descriptions of national education systems and comparative reports devoted to specific topics, indicators and statistics.