GATE-E to improve GATE application process

Applications and approvals for the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses Programme (GATE) will become more efficient as Cabinet approved the GATE E service.

Minister of Tertiary Education and Skills Training, Fazal Karim made the statement as he addressed the post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair earlier today.

The Minister explained that the GATE E service is an electronic system which will bring improvements to the data collection and efficiency to the GATE system.

“This new system will be undertaken a cost of $1.760 million. GATE is managed by the Funding and Grants Division of the Ministry. GATE provides funding for the tertiary education to ensure that no one is denied access to further education due to their inability to pay. Now, the verification and clearance process of the programme will be made easier with this service,” Karim explained.

The Minister explained that upon implementation students will now be able to apply online ‘which is not possible now’ which would avoid the time consuming manual system now in place. Tertiary level institutions would also now be able to view and track applications online

Karim said the Funding and Grants Division would now be able to process GATE clearances and GATE applications much faster as it would automate a significant number of activities to decrease time. He said GATE clearance would now take two weeks and be processed within six weeks.

“The processes for this to be implementation will begin at the end of this month, as work will being with Singapore IDAI International. It should take about 23 weeks to get online, so we should go online in January 2014,” Karim said.

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