The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Education has lifted its moratorium on new scholarships for international studies for the 2021/2022 school year, according to Education Minister Jeff Lloyd.

The move comes after the programme was suspended last July due to budget constraints brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of COVID-19’s unfortunate effects was that the ministry was forced to make a tough decision to place a moratorium on all new international scholarships for the 2020/2021 scholarship cycle,” Mr Lloyd told the House of Assembly.

“That moratorium has now been lifted for the 2021/22 school year. I am pleased to report that approval was granted by Cabinet to award funding for new awards to local tertiary institutions and as a result, some 65 students qualified for tuition assistance to attend those local tertiary institutions.

“With regard to existing students, scholarship funding is fixed and determined based on the contracts of the students. All students who met the requirements for renewal received funding for the continuation of their studies. To date,112 students have been processed totaling $9,009,551.54.”

Yesterday, Mr Lloyd also gave an update on Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute, where he noted enrolment at the institution jumped from some 4,500 students to over 6,000.

Meanwhile, as it relates to University of the Bahamas, Mr Lloyd said there was a decline in student enrolment for the fall semester by two percent.

However, he said: “Unique enrolled students increased by 3 percent to 5,254.”

“We did not retain this number because there were two major deregistration cycles.

“The university’s yield rate for new admitted students rose to 62 percent from 61 percent last year. Pre-deregistration, this figure stood at 72 percent.

“There were 2,252 new student applicants of which 1,598 were admitted.

“The government grant last semester was 3,520 students and for this semester meaning 2021 (it is) 3,590 students.”