NIA CHARLESTOWN, NEVIS (March 09, 2026) – Young people in Nevis with an interest in the health sciences are being encouraged to apply for the annual Nevis Island Administration (NIA)/Medical University of the Americas (MUA) scholarship programme, which provides an opportunity to pursue higher education without the financial burden often associated with university study.
Two scholarships will be awarded to successful candidates to pursue undergraduate studies beginning in 2027.
Premier of Nevis and Minister of Human Resources in the NIA, Honourable Mark Brantley, made the appeal during his monthly press conference on February 24.
“I’m a strong advocate for training and I continue to encourage our young people, especially, to take advantage of these opportunities. The NIA/MUA scholarship, I’m advised, is one of the best scholarships because they pay for almost everything and so please, help me get the word out to our young people that they ought to apply for the scholarship.
“The application process is now open. Please speak to the Ministry of Health and get your application in. The deadline is May 15.”
The Premier emphasized that the scholarship provides significant financial support and offers students flexibility in where they pursue their studies.
“Believe it or not there are some years that we can’t even find two applicants for this prestigious scholarship and this is a scholarship which allows you to study anywhere in the world, so it’s not that you have to study at MUA- although MUA is good quality- but they are prepared to fund you to study anywhere. So I am calling on our people to take advantage of these opportunities,” he said.
The NIA has identified several priority areas for 2026 including environmental health, pharmacy, dental hygiene, medical technology, physical therapy, occupational or speech therapy, health education, counselling, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, waste management and environmental protection, health information management, occupational health and safety, radiography, supply chain management, social work, and gender development studies.
Premier Brantley also used the opportunity to encourage young Nevisians who have completed medical school and returned home to consider pursuing specialized medical training to strengthen the island’s healthcare system.
“We have had a difficulty persuading some of our young doctors to take opportunities to go off to specialize- they have families, they have commitments. We understand that, but we continue to work with them and to encourage them because we think that that’s important.”
He noted that while Nevis has developed a strong cadre of local general practitioners, there remains a need for more specialists.
“Right now we have a good cadre of general practitioners who are Nevisian and they do excellent work, but we have now a difficulty with specialists, and so we’ve had to go outside for specialists. So we are hopeful that more of them [Nevisian doctors] will take the opportunities when they present themselves to specialize.”
The Premier added that the island is already seeing encouraging progress, noting with pride that four young Nevisian doctors are currently overseas pursuing specialized training in disciplines including radiology and ophthalmology.
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