Students who want to pursue higher studies in Maldives or foreign countries via a student loan can now apply for said loan.
The Ministry of Higher Education, Labour and Skills Development's announcement reads that the loan will cover both Bachelor's Degree and PhD.
Along with that, the ministry said that they will approve loans for professional license programs, medical specializations and fellowship programs in the medical industry.
The loan will give opportunities to highly technical fields and various other industries that are included in the National Training Needs List. Students who require a top-up loan and loans for internships can now apply as well.
“Students who choose to study in countries listed in the announcement will receive full funding through the loan. For those opting for other countries, loan amounts will be determined by comparing living costs in the selected country with those in the listed countries, with adjustments made accordingly. The aim is to ensure students can pursue their studies in a cost-efficient manner and repay the loan without undue difficulty upon their return,” the ministry said.
Changes that were brought to this year's loan:
- The exclusion of an application deadline and to have the opportunity to request for a loan be open for the entire year.
- The loan amount for this year has not been determined.
- The announcement and online portal will clearly state the fields that are not on a slot basis, fields that have available slots and the number of slots.
- The online portal will show the remaining number of available slots for the relevant fields.
- Instead of having a limit on the number of students who may receive the loans, the opportunity to apply for loans will be opened with the assurance that those who apply for those fields will receive the loan.
- There will no longer be any "students who are studying for the first time" and "ongoing" categories.
- Students who are studying for the first time and students who are studying will be submitting their loan applications within the same category.
- The only differences will be the documents that are to be submitted.
The ministry has requested students who want to study for the first time this year to submit their loan applications.
As the details for the program placements and fees for loan requests have seen changes, the ministry stated that this was done in order to have the application be evaluated and funds be released much quicker compared to the pace of previous years.
The loan applications can be submitted through the Kuri online portal.
