Education Minister ‘not satisfied’ with American University of Malta

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo has said he is ‘not satisfied’ with the American University of Malta (AUM), adding that he has become ‘allergic’ to those who talk of attracting thousands of students to Malta.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday evening, Bartolo said: “My experience has made me allergic to those who come here and declare they will bring several thousand.”

The education minister spoke highly of the London School of Commerce. The institute, he said, worked in silence and saw some 500 students from 80 different countries graduate over the past few years.

“Founding a university is not like opening a garage. You have to start small, start slow, strengthen and grow,” Bartolo said.

He said one had to be careful of investors who talk big but do not offer much else. “Our education licences are not for sale,” he said. “I do not want offshore in education.”

The American University of Malta has been in the headlines since the government announced the project a few years back. The Jordanian investors behind the project had said the university would attract some 4,000 students but enrolment has been painfully slow.

The AUM has been given part of Cospicua’s Dock 1 and a parcel of ODZ land in Żonqor. The government has repeatedly said that the Marsascala land will not be built on until the Cospicua campus reaches full capacity.

Last week, the Planning Authority board indicated that it would vote against the AUM’s application to construct new buildings at Dock 1. The university also plans to build a large dormitory building on the approaches to Senglea.