How many staff members were fired from the AUM over the Christmas recess and why were they dismissed?

We had to do some realignment. I do not know the exact number of staff members that were fired. What we have now is a good array of faculties and staff on board and we are handling both staff and students very well.

Do you know why they were fired?

No.

Some academics said that they were not notified that their job was going to be terminated…

I wasn’t here at that time and I do not know the details of what exactly happened. But there was a decision made to realign and like all starts-ups there were some issues and missteps. What we can say is that we are working to reach our target we had promised the government and we are making good progress.

How many lecturers do you have at the moment?

Ten; we have about 30 students with some having joined after the Christmas recess.

You have engaged a number of new lecturers out of which one has been accused of plagiarism and the other with lying about which universities he attended, indicating that proper due diligence had not been carried out. How do you explain this?

First of all, I am proud to have a number of very good faculty members on board and they are engaging with our students. Of course, we have had a person who resigned and a person who went on medical leave.

But are these two staff members still here?

I am not going to speak about any particular cases. What we will continue to do to is attract lecturers to the AUM, and continue to develop our students.

The majority of these academics had to make a drastic change to their lives and to that of their families. Is it fair that AUM decides to terminate their employment one fine day?

I will not comment on what was done as I was not here and was not involved. We will also be recruiting people from abroad who will bring their families and settle in Malta.

Will you guarantee that when you employ a staff member, especially lecturers you will do your homework properly?

Now that we have a robust system in place, we can be sure that the people we bring on board will be properly assessed.

Do you confirm or deny reports that these lectures were terminated because of cash flow problems resulting from a low intake of students?

No there is no cash flow problem. We are a start-up institution and like any other start-up, we have issues but our target is that by 2029 we will have 4,000 students on campus. All the work on Dock 1 will be ready later this spring and the university’s doors will be open again this September. By then we will be in phase 2 of the project. This will involve the Knights Building and some other buildings. The work on these buildings will start once we are given the permits. 

 

Which countries will AUM be visiting to attract students?

We are targeting students from everywhere.

According to the government, including the Prime Minister, Zonqor will only be developed once Dock 1 is at full capacity. Is the government correct in saying this?

When the Dock 1 campus is nearly at full capacity, which is more than 2,000 students, we will start making plans for the Zonqor campus.

So if AUM will have less than 2,000 students, will you still develop Zonqor?

We will start developing Zonqor once we reach 2,000 plus students.

And how confident are you that this number will be reached?

I am very confident that we will reach the 2,000-student level and will reach full capacity by 2029. We are on target and we are going to build a university that will be a world-class university. The Dock 1 campus will not be a ghost town.

The Zonqor site was chosen with the idea of having one campus. Now that plans have changed, would Sadeen, in good faith, consider another site?

I don’t know. That is the decision of the government and I will be involved as the AUM’s president. For now, we have Zonqor and we will work with the government effectively on the future of AUM.

 

What assurance can you give that you will not use Zonqor for speculative purposes?

Zonqor will be used for educational enterprises because that is what we are authorised to do and we will develop that place for educational purposes.

 

The success of a university is that the first years are considered to be its golden years. So far, if you google AUM virtually only negative stories come up. Do you think that this the beginning of a downhill slope?

Yes, those stories are out there and students can find them but we are working hard to develop a positive message on what AUM is going to become. We are very confident that we can recruit good students from many places in the world. We can overcome any of the negative publicity that was published but I want to send out the message that the future is very positive. Our students have programmes that will develop them into leaders with true international experience. I am going to make sure that we are very well prepared.

Do you agree that AUM in the past months made a number of mistakes?

There have been a number of mistakes made…

Such as?

I am not going to go into any specific issues. But in life we make mistakes, we learn from them and we move forward in a positive way.

Who holds the licence for AUM?

I am not sure what the papers say but Sadeen is committed to building a university. There is the Sadeen Group which has a variety of interest, including Sadeen Education. There is also an American style governing board in place.

Why is it that on the AUM’s website you do not publish the internal rules and regulations for students?

Our website is under construction and will be up and running in about two weeks’ time. We do recognise that the website needs to be improved.

Is AUM still in contact with DePaul University with regard to curriculum development?

Yes we are, and I will be looking at other American university partners as well.

Is Adrian Hillman a member of the American University Foundation or of Sadeen Education Investment Limited?

He is a member of the AUM board of trustees.