Scholarships based on profit are holding back research – academics

Academic research in the humanities was being stifled by scholarship criteria that prioritised immediate economic benefits over academic merit, academics have warned. "The humanities offer as many tangible benefits as any other sector, but you can't quantify the benefits with short-sighted, profit-based methodologies," Mark Camilleri, a PhD candidate at the University of Malta and the chairman of the National Book Council, told the Times of Malta. "If a country doesn't have historians, sociologists or philosophers to make sense of what's happening, how can politicians enact laws for the good of the country?" he asked. Under the funding programmes for master's and PhD degrees, scholarship applications are assessed primarily on the basis of the relevance of the research to national and European strategic priorities and the likely impact of the research on the development of Malta and the local economy. These criteria make up nearly 80 per cent of the applicant's final result, with only 20 per cent awarded to the academic merit of the applicant and the research. "This is unjust to everyone but particularly students from the humanities," said Mr Camilleri, who recently met with the...

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