Ministry of Higher Education has announced that 453 students will receive higher education loans under this year’s higher education loan scheme.
The government had opened 720 slots under the higher education loan scheme, and 1,000 applications were submitted for the loans by the March 3 deadline. When the interim results of the loan applications were announced last month, the higher education ministry revealed that 393 students were able to secure the loans, based on eligibility criteria and the slots opened for each field. However, as per the final results announced after reviewing complaints submitted to the interim results, the number of loan recipients has increased to 453.
Disclosing the final results of the loan applications for this year, Minister of Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim Hassan revealed many applicants missed out on the loans due to a large number of applications to the same field, noting loans cannot be awarded in exclusively large numbers to one field. The minister noted there were three fields without any loan applications despite the reservation of slots. As such, the minister said no applications were received for loans to study fisheries and agriculture, occupational health and safety as well as care for the elderly and disabled adults.
As a general rule, the higher education ministry did not award loans this year for fields where local programmes are available. However, loans were awarded in some fields such as medicine and pilot studies under a special exemption. As such, the ministry revealed that 250 individuals applied for the 10 slots opened for pilot studies, while 129 individuals applied for the 25 slots reserved for medicine.
In addition to providing higher education loans to study abroad, the government is also providing the opportunity to undertake first-degree studies locally for free under the First Degree Grant Scheme introduced in 2019.