Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday confirmed that the development of the proposed American University of Malta campus at Zonqor Point, Marsascala, would only start after AUM’s Cospicua campus reaches full complement.
Speaking to journalists, the Prime Minister also said he was convinced that the project would be a “huge success.”
His remarks come after recent reports that questioned the viability of this huge project. According to the reports, the University has around 20 students. The developers had originally envisaged that they would start with around 1,000 students.
The project was surrounded by controversy from day 1, when the government had announced that 90,000 square metres of ODZ land would be taken up to accommodate the university in Zonqor Point. Following public outcry and several protests the government had announced that the project would be split in two. AUM would operate from Cospicua’s Dock 1 and from a scaled down campus in Zonqor. Works at the Cospicua site are lagging behind while no work has been carried out so far in Marsascala.
Last week, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said he believed that works on the Zonqor campus should not start before the Cospicua campus reaches full capacity. Speaking to TVM, the Minister said he recognised that the number of students is not what had been expected, but he was confident that the number would increase as AUM builds its reputation. He also said that building a good reputation takes years.
Speaking in Parliament some days earlier, Bartolo said he would rather see the American University of Malta “start small and grow gradually”, adding that this was not a “garage operation”.
Initially it was reported that AUM has only managed to attract 15 students. AUM Provost John Ryder told this newspaper that there are more than 15 students attending the fledgling university, but he did not reveal the number, despite being specifically asked the question. Malta Today later reported that the number of students amounted to 23.
While failing to quantify the size of the university’s student body, in his response the Provost did indicate that the number of students is currently small, but insisted that it will grow: “There are more students than the number you mentioned (15 in the question sent to the Provost), and numbers will grow for the spring semester and for next year.
The Provost went on to stress that building a reputation is not something that happens overnight: “As I am sure you are aware, building a reputation for a new institution takes time. This is even more so for a university. But rest assured that we are committed to the AUM project for the long-term. In the very near future we will be also make public the number of students for this semester, and we will do the same in January, when we expect additional students. At the appropriate time we will invite the media and the public generally to tour our facilities in Bormla.”
Speaking to journalists this morning, PM Muscat said: “I am certain that this will be a very successful project, one we will all be proud of.”