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Matthew Vella
British High Commissioner Nick Archer has refused to divulge the names of the successful applicants for the prestigious Chevening scholarship, a week after the ambassador admitted the British Council was not getting scholars from “a wide enough range of backgrounds”.
Pressed into revealing the names of all candidates after columnist Anna Mallia expressed concern at the crop of scholars hailing from influential families, Archer said he would neither “undermine able young people whom we have sought to benefit” nor would he do “your journalists’ research for them or to correct the inaccuracies you are apparently being fed by some third party… I have other things I am paid to do, including run a scheme this year which you are welcome to criticise.”
This year’s recipients for the Chevening scholarship included the offspring of some of the most influential people on the island including Prime Minister, Chairmen of Banks and agencies.
In a letter to MaltaToday (page 21), unsuccessful candidate Elaine Bonello writes how she was denied a Chevening scholarship in 1997 despite having a first-class degree in psychology, and again this year after returning from the University of Sheffield with a postgraduate degree.
“I opened a replica regret letter weeks after I submitted my application. Why wasn’t I being considered for an interview? Why were people summoned for interviews without having submitted their application? This time, ten years wiser, I needed an explanation,” Bonello writes.
In her letter, Bonello says Third Secretary Andrew Hamilton “struggled hard to give me a plausible reason” and said that Hamilton later admitted that “in the past the Chevening was politically driven”.
Back in the 90s, Green Party newspaper Alternattiva had also revealed how British High Commissioner Brian Hitch had asked one such applicant for the Chevening about his voting preferences.
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