Govt. announces 150 scholarships for chartered professional accountants

Higher Education Ministry has announced the decision to open applications for 150 scholarship opportunities for chartered professional accountants on Thursday. 

The scholarships were announced by Higher Education Minister Dr. Ibrahim Hassan in a press conference on Thursday morning. 

Speaking at the press conference, Ibrahim said that the Maldivian accounting field employs a large number expatriates. He said the scholarships were part of the government’s efforts to develop more local chartered professional accountants. 

“Developing people in the field of accountancy and replacing the large number of foreign accountants in the labor market with local accountants is one of the biggest challenges facing the government,” he said. 

Ibrahim noted that spots were reserved for the field of accounting under the student loan scheme announced earlier this year. 

He said the 150 scholarships announced on Thursday include 50 scholarships for the public sector and 150 scholarships for the private sector. 

However, if the 50 scholarships for public sector fails to get enough applications, the scholarships will be transferred to private sector, he said. 

Ibrahim said the scholarships offer a significant remedy to the challenge faced by the government in developing local chartered professional accountants. 

Students who have a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree are eligible for the scholarships. 

The scholarships are for ACCA Skills Level, ACCA Professional Level, CIMA Management Level, and CIMA Certificate Level courses. 

Ibrahim thanked the Institute of Chartered Accountants for their cooperation on the initiative. He said that the scholarship scheme was announced following discussions with the ICA, and that promotional activities for the scheme will be held in collaboration with the institute. 

The scholarships will cover: 

• Registration fee 

• Annual subscription fee 

• Exemption fee (for those eligible) 

• Exam fee 

• Book allowance 

• Tuition fee 

The scholarship scheme comes after President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, at the Maldives Accountants Forum held in November, stressed the need to train more locals in the field of accounting.