University of Malta Launches €300,000 Blockchain Scholarship Fund

Malta continues to take the lead in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector with an interesting new development in the educational sector.

The University of Malta and the Malta Information Technology Agency have signed an agreement where a fund of EUR300,000 will be made available for those students who wish to pursue their studies in blockchain and distributed ledger technology in the forthcoming academic year. The fund will be available for those students who will be specialising in ICT, law, finance and engineering.

The scholarship fund, which will be split over three years, follows the signing of an agreement between the University of Malta and the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA).

Students starting their studies in the coming academic year can benefit from the scholarship for Master’s and PhD research dissertations related to blockchain and DLT.

Scholarships will be available for courses with at least 30 ECTS credits directly related to DLT. Students will be provided with full sponsorship for the course.

Speaking to CCN, Silvio Schembri, the Junior Minister for digital economy, said the scholarship would support efforts to attract blockchain companies to Malta, by ensuring that the necessary human resources were available locally.

He stated:

“These companies need technical resources both to build and to operate by use of this technology, as well as experts in financial services, law and managerial roles. We look forward to see the first Maltese occupying these important and well-paid roles whilst also hoping that these will expand considerably in the future as the industry continues to grow here in Malta.”

University rector Alfred Vella added that the university would be continuing an internal exercise to review degree and Master’s programmes in law, finance, ICT and other areas to include units relating to DLT, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, AI, fintech and regtech.

A spokesperson for the university said that that the institution was looking forward to the results of this internal review to better establish a way forward in this fast-growing sector.

Prof. Vella said the aim of the review was to have educational programmes in line with the government’s strategy to make Malta the blockchain island.

MITA executive chairman Tony Sultana added that the agency was engaging in similar initiatives with other educational institutions, as well as carrying out training sessions for public sector employees to familiarise themselves with the technologies.

The agency will also be the main IT partner for the Delta Summit, a major blockchain and digital innovation even being held in Malta in October. Currently, the MFSA is conducting courses to financial institutions to enable them to qualify for the implementation of the Virtual Financial Assets Act which was placed into law earlier this year.