Minister of Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim Hassan has revealed that around USD30 million has been spent on the Free First Degree Programme in the past four years. He made the remarks at the send-off ceremony held for the recipients of the Stipendicam Hungaricam Scholarship Scheme.
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Hassan said the government did not stop the development of human resources even during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said that human resource development is one of the highest priorities of the government and, as such, allowed 15,000 students to achieve their first degree for free at a cost of USD30 million. He noted that around USD6.9 million was spent on the programme this year alone.
Furthermore, Minister Hassan highlighted that the government was forced to halt some infrastructure projects during the COVID-19 pandemic but that it did not stop efforts to provide higher education opportunities to students. He said that providing scholarship opportunities abroad has cost the state around USD31 million, of which USD3 million was spent this year.
The Stipendium Hungaricam Scholarship Awardees send-off ceremony was held for the first batch of 13 Maldivian students for 2022, out of the initial 45 fully funded scholarships by Hungary. Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Maldives and Hungary in 2019, a total of13 students were awarded scholarships in 2022. The send-off ceremony was jointly organised by the Ministry of Higher Education and the Honorary Consul of Hungary in the Maldives Mohamed Ali Janah.