Justyne Caruana

As one of the clerks working at the University of Malta’s Stipends Office retired and another got married and went on long leave, some students ended up without their stipends, and without access to their Smart Card.

The matter was raised in Parliament by Labour MP Dr Justyne Caruana, who asked the Education Minister to take immediate action. In reply, the minister said that the shortage of staff led to a backlog of paperwork, and the Stipends Office did not manage to send to the Government Treasury all the forms for the issuing of stipends in time. The situation was also caused because at the end of 2007, the Treasury set shorter deadlines for the submission of payment requests from government entities due to the conversion to a new currency. The minister confirmed that due to this difficulty, a number of students did not receive their stipends in time.

The Stipends and Maintenance Grants Board is urging students who have not yet received their stipends to report to the Stipends Office at the University of Malta immediately, the minister told Dr Caruana.




Staff shortage leaves students without stipends
Malta Star (10-01-2008)
As one of the clerks working at the University of Malta’s Stipends Office retired and another got married and went on long leave, some students ended up without their stipends, and without access to their Smart Card. The matter was raised in Parliament by Labour MP Dr Justyne Caruana, who asked the Education Minister to take immediate action. In reply, the minister said that the shortage of staff led to a backlog of paperwork, and the Stipends Office did not manage to send to the Government Treasury all the forms for the issuing of stipends in time. The situation was also caused because at the end of 2007, the Treasury set shorter deadlines for the submission of payment requests from government entities due to the conversion to a new currency. The minister confirmed that due to this difficulty, a number of students did not receive their stipends in time. The Stipends and Maintenance Grants Board is urging students who have not yet received their stipends to report to the Stipends Office at the University of Malta immediately, the minister told Dr Caruana.
2008 - Justyne Caruana