Third Vice-President of the Collectivité Annick Pétrus. (Robert Luckock photo)
MARIGOT–Third Vice-President in charge of education, Annick Pétrus recently announced that the Collectivité will be making incentive grants available to students returning to St. Martin who wish to be gainfully employed in certain fields after completing their studies abroad.
The incentive grant is available to those students who are heading toward professional careers in the fields of teaching, healthcare (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, midwives and psychologists), civil service, construction engineering, tourism development, urban planning, the environment and sustainable energy, new digital and information technologies, and law and justice, without consideration of their resources. In exchange the student is required to make a moral commitment to return and apply for employment in St. Martin.
“We lack people from St. Martin who are trained in all of these sectors, even though there is a strong local demand for employment. In the teaching profession, only three per cent of the posts are held by those from St. Martin,” Pétrus disclosed.
She said she believed it was important to introduce this new programme, the goal of which is to support students who fulfil these conditions throughout their studies.
Without taking into consideration their own resources, students enrolled in the academic programmes listed below and who desire to return to the island to seek employment will be supported by the Collectivité throughout their academic career as follows: one- or two-year programmes – 2,500 euros per year; Bachelor’s degree candidates – 3,000 euros per year; Master’s degree 1 candidates – 3,600 euros per year; Master’s degree 2 candidates – 4,200 euros per year; and PhD candidates – 6,600 euros per year.
This incentive grant is not cumulative with the territorial scholarship for higher learning. The grant will be paid in two parts each year: 70 per cent at the end of the calendar year and 30 per cent at the end of the university year, upon presentation of a certificate of having sat the final exams.
If the student desires to change majors and remains in a new major equally eligible for this grant and under the same conditions, it will be transferred. Co-financing to 85 per cent has been contributed by European Social Funds (ESF) and 15 per cent by the Collectivité of St. Martin.
Requests for this incentive grant can be made online on a dedicated page, which has been open since July 1 and will close on August 15, on the Collectivité’s website
www.com-saint-martin.fr . It can be found under the Online Services tab, as a link to “Access to student grants”.
Additional information can be obtained from the Grants Office at the Academic Affairs Department, Human Development Center, by calling tel. (0590)29.59.18.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/89908-collectivite-to-give-incentive-grants-to-returning-students
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