At this stage ‘no material breach of the licence conditions that AUM operate under’

Sources said that the AUM could not cope with paying the high faculty member wages in view of the low student uptake, especially considering that some of the 15 students have been offered a scholarship to attend. In view of this it let go the complement of its faculty.

AUM Provost John Ryder was quoted as saying that faculty numbers had to be revised to reflect the lower than projected student figures in its first academic semester.

In view of the NCFHE’s responsibility to ensure quality education is given to the AUM’s students, and the fact that public land was transferred to the Jordanian company behind AUM for the purposes of this project, The Malta Independent asked whether it is concerned with the current state of affairs.

This newsroom also questioned whether what action it would be taking should the situation further deteriorate at AUM. In the meantime, Ryder had confirmed with this newsroom that faculty had been fired to replace the recently fired faculty, and is waiting for approval from the NCFHE itself.

In response to this newsroom’s questions, Vella said:

“I can assure you that the NCFHE acts so as to protect the best interests of students and the reputation of quality education in Malta. One of the conditions that we set on AUM was in fact that they submit a contingency plan as to how their students should proceed if AUM were to cease operations.

“We monitor the operation of all Further and Higher Education providers, ensure that they abide by their license conditions and also instigate ad hoc investigations when any potential breaches come to our notice.

“Obviously, the Commission is in ongoing contact with AUM and I should point out that any faculty member has to be approved by the Commission before being employed. There are naturally high standards that faculty have to meet before they get our go ahead and again I should point out that these are applied across the board not just to AUM.”

He also highlighted how, “every year they [AUM] have to submit a quality audit report by Clemson University which will be made at the end of the academic year although a preliminary report has already been submitted. I should also point out that the NCFHE has the right to carry out spot-checks on AUM and this has actually taken place.” He gave assurances that at this stage there is “no material breach of the licence conditions that AUM operate under”.