culture

Scholarship program behind on bills

LA PRENSA

empty pockets: Pablo Moreno, left, studies analytical science in Spain, but the cost of living there has made his situation increasingly “untenable.” Francisco Jiménez, right, may have to find a part-time job to support his work on a cancer treatment in London. 1082072

Panama may have won its first Olympic gold in Beijing, but the country’s track record in supporting its mental athletes is less than medal-worthy. A survey of some of the students who won coveted government scholarships to study abroad found that many have been detoured from their pursuits by financial problems.

Now, several of those scholars are criticizing the Secretaría de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Senacyt) for not following through with a program meant to advance Panama in the modern scientific world.

Stories of delayed stipends and a complete ignorance of the actual cost of living outside of the country top the students’ list of complaints. Others say the devaluation of the dollar has hit them hard, and that Senacyt administrators are inattentive to their needs.

And although Senacyt officials adopted a resolution last December to adjust the scholarships for inflation, so far only eight students have received the extra money. There are currently 333 Senacyt scholars studying in 19 countries in North and South America and Europe, according to government data.

Nevertheless, Senacyt secretary Julio Escobar insisted that the agency has overcome its financial shortfalls, attributing the delays to the program’s growing pains.

“It’s no longer a major problem,” he said. “In this quarter we have what we have promised.”

The program currently has a budget of $24.4 million.

Meanwhile, as allowances run short, students such as Pablo Montero, a doctoral student of analytical science at the University of Zaragoza, Spain, are forced to channel their intelligence into business ventures just to make ends meet.

Montero won a scholarship for academic excellence in 2006. Since then, delays in receiving the Senacyt stipends have caused him to spend his life savings and sell family properties to keep his body and mind together in Europe.

“The program funds are simply not sufficient,” he said.

Money matters were further strained when Montero’s second son arrived in March 2007, an expense Senacyt administrators had advised him not to record on the original financial aid application. Wilson Dawson, then-director of international fellowships, told Montero that it would be better to ask for a budget adjustment after the child was born.

A year and a half later, Montero’s budget remained the same. And as the euro rose against the dollar, his family and his studies were in an increasingly precarious situation.

Pushed to his limit, Montero and several other down-and-out scholars met with Senacyt representatives in the Panamanian embassy in Madrid in May. One month later, Montero received his response by way of an e-mail message.

“After a detailed analysis of your request for a budget increase based on the estimated cost of living, we conclude that the extra funds requested are not justifiable,” wrote a Senacyt official.

Montero has filed a request for reconsideration, but warned that his situation is "untenable."

José González, a biochemistry and molecular biology doctorate student at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, has also found it hard to get by on the Senacyt scholarship budget.

González arrived in Spain with his family 2006, but the money never followed.

“The people who manage these programs are not interested in the hardship to the fellows. You might even say, without fear of being mistaken, that they go so far as to mock us,” he commented.

The doctoral student says he becomes more discouraged each time he asks Senacyt administrators to contemplate increasing the allowance to offset the rising cost of living.

“The biannual budget only lasts us for four months and the remaining two months we have to live on borrowed money,” he added.

The situation is aggravated by the common belief that some unmarried Senacyt scholars receive a larger stipend than those with families, and that nepotism is rampant in the system.

“Some well-connected fellows get budget increases,” he noted.