$60,000 in Scholarships Awarded by Rotary in Malta & Gozo
Posted
on Jun 11, 2015
The Rotary Clubs of Malta and Gozo have awarded two scholarships, each worth US$30,000, for post-graduate, international studies to Maltese students. Students from Malta and Gozo compete with others from Sicily for the two scholarships which are funded annually by Rotary District 2110, Sicily and Malta. While usually, candidates from Malta win one of these scholarships with the second being awarded to a candidate from Sicily, this year, both District scholarships were awarded to candidates from Malta.
The Scholarship programme funded by the Rotary Foundation is the largest private scholarship programme in the world with over 800 scholarships, each of US$30,000, being
funded annually.
Rotary District 2110, Sicily and Malta, to which Rotary Club Malta, Rotary Club La Valette and Rotary Club Gozo belong, annually allocates funding for two scholarships for post-graduate, international studies in one of the Rotary Foundation's Six Areas of Focus. As has happened in previous years, these scholarships were publicised in Malta in December and January through the press and social media and this year a record 48 candidates applied from Malta and Gozo. Following a rigorous evaluation by representatives of the three Clubs in Malta and Gozo, a short-list of six candidates was drawn up, each of whom were interviewed, and then two candidates were selected and their applications forwarded to the District Committee for selection.
While Maltese candidates have often been successful in obtaining one of the two scholarships, mainly due to their high caliber, their alignment to the Rotary Areas of Focus and their English language skills, with the other scholarship being awarded to a candidate from Sicily, the scholarships for the academic year 2015/16 have both been awarded to Maltese candidates, to the great satisfaction of local Rotarians.
This autumn Samuela Galea, an aid worker from l-Iklin who has worked in Malta at the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers and with the Jesuit Refugee Service, as well as on projects in the Palestinian Territories as well as in Chile, will be following a Masters programme in International Humanitarian Action at the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Spain.
Dr Annabel Mifsud, from Dingli, currently a Research Officer in the Department of Counselling at the University of Malta and a recent volunteer on a Rotary Club La Valette project in India, will be following a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Counselor Education at the University of New Orleans in the USA.
"There is a big demand for students in Malta to continue their post-graduate studies internationally and the Rotary Clubs in Malta and Gozo are very satisfied to be able to assist in funding this build up of knowledge and experience through the Rotary Foundation's Grant programme" said John de Giorgio, the Rotarian who is the Malta liaison for the Rotary Foundation. "We are proud to have funded a large number of people over the years, many of whom have risen to positions where they are able to provide long-lasting service within our community."