Changes to scholarship criteria ‘unacceptable’, GSD says

The GSD has said changes to the eligibility criteria for university grants are “unacceptable”, adding that the decision has created unnecessary stress for students. 

In a statement, the Opposition said the policy change was made “without proper explanation” and has called for clarity from the Government. 

The news emerged on Monday after Paul Martyn, the headteacher at Prior Park Gibraltar, received an email from the Department of Education just after midday outlining significant changes to eligibility criteria. 

According to the email seen by the Chronicle, to qualify for the mandatory grant pupils must be currently attending Bayside, Westside or the Gibraltar College, or have previously attended a Government school for their A-level or Level 3 qualifications and taken no more than two gap years. 

The changes come into effect as from September 2025, while the existing requirement of five years of residency in Gibraltar remains the same. 

The email was received just hours before parents and pupils were set to attend a talk in Westside school on the Gibraltar Scholarship, to which parents of Prior Park students – in common with those of children in Government schools - had been invited in January. 

Shortly after sending the email, the Department of Education contacted Prior Park and asked the school to inform parents that the meeting “was no longer relevant” and that they should instead attend a talk on the “discretionary scholarship route”. 

To add to the confusion, the Gibraltar Government said late Monday that “final considerations as to automatic eligibility will be announced shortly", suggesting the changes were not yet set in stone. 

The GSD said the drip-feeding and “confusing messaging” of what is an important policy change is unacceptable, adding that the Government has created “unnecessary stress” for students about to take their A-Level exams. 

“And for it to then throw its own civil servants under a bus when all they were doing was delivering the policy message,” the GSD said in a statement. 

“Taxpayer residents, parents and students are entitled to know what the rationale is behind the change that excludes resident students going to some Gibraltar schools.” 

“The Government should be much clearer and not hide behind an anonymous spokesperson and it should reconsider.” 

“The Government needs to clearly explain the rationale behind a late policy change that excludes Gibraltar resident children of Gibraltarian taxpayers from eligibility to mandatory scholarships purely because of the school they go to.” 

“This decision would affect not just maintenance grants but tuition fees.” 

The Opposition said that the move shifts away from a cross-party consensus regarding university grants which has been in place since 1988, and questioned the thought process behind the policy change. 

“For a policy to be fair it needs to be rational and not arbitrary,” the statement added. 

“If it’s seeking to somehow target ‘means’ of the parents then what guarantee is there that there aren’t parents with higher household incomes who are sending their children to Bayside or Westside?” 

“Additionally, and as has unfortunately happened before with this Government, policy changes cannot be sprung on parents or children a couple of months before exams in a way that does not allow families to plan or without properly exploring the ramifications of an intended policy change.”  

The Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi questioned whether the Government has planned as to the effect of the announcement on Government schools. 

“For example, has Government considered the consequences?” he said. 

“Is it ready to cater for more students if there is now a mass exodus of students to Government schools? Will it cost more to have to provide more classrooms and employ more teachers than any saving represented by the funding of mandatory awards to a couple of dozen students?” 

Mr Azopardi added that “these are legitimate questions”.  

“Is this another knee-jerk ill-thought through policy of a GSLP Government with a growing track record of poorly thought policies?”  

He said the use of an unidentified Government spokesperson suggesting a decision is not final is “a monument in vagueness”. 

Pointing to the Scholarship Award Information Handbook 2025 which is published by the Government for students and parents, Mr Azopardi said it is clear that the entitlement to mandatory scholarships has been changed, with the handbook now reading scholarships are available to resident students who are “attending a HMGoG school or have attended such a school”. 

Mr Azopardi referenced an earlier version of the handbook, which the GSD understands “was provided to parents and pupils when they were invited to a presentation on scholarships in January this year”, which said any student resident in Gibraltar and attending a school in Gibraltar or in the United Kingdom or have attended such a school were eligible for university funding.