Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/929711
maltatoday SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018 News 3 KURT SANSONE DAYS before the American University of Malta received its first students last Septem- ber, the company behind the institution bought a hostel in Tarxien, MaltaToday has learnt. Sadeen Education Invest- ment Ltd purchased the Bow- yer House hostel for €2.5 mil- lion from the Maltese firm HF Investments. The outright sale of the 36-room hostel was concluded on 30 August 2017. The six- storey building – of which two floors are below ground level – is adjacent to Palazzo Ab- ela, which also belongs to HF Investments, in Tarxien's his- toric centre. The hostel is advertised on- line as having "large and com- fortable" rooms that contain between one and five beds each. It has a superficial area of 3,295 square metres. AUM provost John Ryder confirmed the hostel would serve as a residence for stu- dents, who required accom- modation. The university's operations are currently concentrated at the Dock 1 campus in Bormla that was transferred to Sadeen in 2016 by the Government as part of the 99-year conces- sion agreement that included a larger site at Zonqor Point in Marsaskala. The two sites were trans- ferred on condition they will be used as university campus- es. Sadeen plans to have dor- mitories at the Zonqor cam- pus. However, works on this site have not yet started. AUM opened its doors to 23 students in September, a far cry from the target of 300 stu- dents it had set itself initially. The university terminated the employment of all its full-time academic staff at the start of the year as a result of the poor student intake and has since recruited fewer faculty mem- bers, most of whom are on a part-time basis. In the wake of concerns over the viability of the AUM pro- ject, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Education Min- ister Evarist Bartolo have said that works at Zonqor should not start before the Bormla campus is used to capacity. Sadeen buys Tarxien hostel for €2.5m KURT SANSONE NO major issues were identified in two audit reports on the American University of Malta filed by US- based Clemson University last year, according to the regulator. The National Commission for Further and Higher Education said Clemson filed a preliminary report in August and a second one in Oc- tober following a site visit at AUM's Bormla campus. "Clemson have in these reports not identified any major issues that need addressing but in their pre- liminary report only made some recommendations for procedural improvements in certain areas," NCFHE chairperson Godfrey Vella told MaltaToday. Clemson University was roped in by AUM to carry out annual audits as part of the licence conditions im- posed on it by the Maltese regulator. Vella was responding to questions by this newspaper in the wake of AUM's decision to axe all its full- time academic staff at the start of the year. The university, which is a start-up operation that only opened its doors to students last Septem- ber, only attracted 23 students. AUM was granted land concessions in Bormla and Marsaskala to oper- ate two campuses that would even- tually host 4,000 students. The poor intake, which is far below what the university had expected for its first year, has raised doubts on the pro- ject's viability. When asked whether the NCFHE was concerned on AUM's inability to attract enough students, Vella said no licence condition to any provider had ever stated the num- ber of students the institution must have. However, he conceded the regulator was observing develop- ments at AUM. "Obviously, we will be keeping our eyes on the student numbers at AUM as clearly the numbers have to be such as to ensure ongoing vi- ability, but it should be recognised that the university is still in its first semester of operations," Vella said. Asked about the drastic change in academic staff at AUM, Vella said these were replaced with equiva- lently qualified staff and the univer- sity satisfied the condition of hav- ing the right quantity of staff. All academics have to be ap- proved by the NCFHE, according to the licensing conditions, with Vella noting that this requirement had "rarely, if ever, been imposed on other institutions". Vella said AUM had always sub- mitted the CVs of staff engaged to teach students. "There has been no evidence of any material breach of licence con- ditions since the start of academic operations," Vella said, when asked whether AUM had fallen foul of its obligations. The NCFHE monitors all higher educational establishments that have been granted a licence. But Vella acknowledged that some in- stitutions merited more attention than others. The AUM was the brainchild of Jordanian investor Hani Saleh, who owns the Sadeen Group that has no background in higher education. The university received its licence from the NCFHE in 2016. Mean- while, last Friday, the NCFHE said in a statement there were no le- gitimate reasons to revoke AUM's licence. However, the commission said that just as it did with all other higher educational institutions, AUM will continue to be closely monitored. "If serious licence condition breaches do occur then the NCF- HE will take whatever steps will be shown to be necessary at that stage," the regulator said. Regulator has eyes on AUM but insists external audit found no major issue The Bowyer House hostel which was bought by the American University of Malta. Below, the interior of the hostel