The number of students enrolled at the American University of Malta (AUM) will be made known in October, after the fall enrolment ends, a spokesperson for the university has told The Malta Independent on Sunday.
The university’s low student intake has once again become the subject of controversy following criticism by government MP Glenn Bedingfield, who said that the buildings which the AUM plans to build are too large for its ‘dozen’ students.
Weighing in on the debate, Cospicua Mayor Alison Zerafa Civelli said the MP was wrong and that she was informed that the university currently has some 120 students.
Asked how many students were currently enrolled on its courses, the AUM said: “We are at the beginning of our fall enrolment period and we will announce our fall enrolment in October.”
The American University of Malta has been mired in controversy since its establishment was first announced by the government in 2015. The government had initially said that it would give Jordanian investors Sadeen a prime piece of real estate in Marsascala’s Żonqor area, where a 90,000-square-metre campus would be built on agricultural land.
Following public outcry and a number of demonstrations, the Office of the Prime Minister announced that the Żonqor development would be scaled down and that the AUM would be allowed to develop part of its campus at Cospicua’s Dock 1. The university set up shop in what is known as the British Building, which it has restored and converted into classrooms and offices, but the university project has been dogged by very low student intake.
The government has repeatedly said that, should the AUM not reach its 1,000 student quota at Cospicua, it would not be allowed to build its Żonqor campus, which is designed to cater for another 3,000 students.
When this newsroom visited the Cospicua campus in February 2018 it found only a handful of students and lecturing staff on site. The university has also faced a number of staff resignations and dismissals.
While the saga surrounding the AUM has mostly dissipated over the past 12 months, the issue resurfaced again after Cospicua district MP Glenn Bedingfield, formerly a vocal supporter of the project, said the university should not be allowed to build on all open spaces.
He was referring to a planning application submitted by the AUM to build a new administrative block on open space between the British Building and the Knights Building, and the extension of the latter. The AUM also wants to build a multi-storey dormitory on Triq San Pawl, in an area currently used as a car park by Cospicua residents. The dorm will have 120 bedrooms and a pool at roof level.
Bedingfield has proposed alternative sites for the construction of the dormitory and said that the open spaces along the Dock 1 waterfront should not be built up. He said he was speaking on behalf of residents of the area.
The Cospicua Local Council has also expressed reservations about the loss of parking spaces, a concern that is shared by the Senglea council.
Representation letters were also sent by a number of residents, who have highlighted the visual impact that the modern Knights Building extension would have on the area, the loss of parking spaces and the loss of open space in the area.
The case officer has recommended that the administrative building and Knights Building extension be approved but said a separate application should be filed for the dormitory.
The Planning Authority is set to decide on the first two buildings on 12 September.
The Malta Independent asked the AUM whether it was taking into account the concerns raised by residents and Cottonera local councils, but no reply was given to that question.
Speaking to this newspaper earlier this week, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he was confident that the American University of Malta would “achieve its targets within the established timeframes as set in the public contract.”
Similar replies were provided by district MPs Joe Mizzi, the Minister for Energy, and Chris Agius, the parliamentary secretary for the property market.
Muscat had previously said that the AUM would have to reach its student quota within four years of completion of all construction works in 2025. This means that the AUM has to reach full capacity by 2029. Short of this, the prime minister had said, the land and all facilities owned by the AUM would return to the government.