The National Commission for Further and Higher Education said it will continue to monitor the American University of Malta.

However, in a lengthy statement, the commission did not report anything wrong  with the university, despite the fact it was hosting just a handful of students and despite having sacked all its lecturers and engaged some new ones. The provost insisted last week that the project is on track and delivering according to all contractual obligations.

The commission explained that licences to tertiary education providers are always issued with a set of attendant conditions, some of which are common to all providers and a number of which are tailored to the individual provider. In the case of the AUM the special conditions issued were extremely stringent and exhaustive.

READ: AUM firing staff after failing to attract students

These included the requirement to undertake an annual quality audit by Clemson University, NCFHE spot-checks at least once a year on any aspect of the operations of AUM, external quality audits after the second and fourth academic year for the purposes of confirming or revoking the accreditation granted, approval by NCFHE of all academic staff to be engaged during the first 24 months of operations, submission to the Commission of the template for the Student Agreement and various other conditions.

READ: AUM hits back at critics, reports: 'project on track, new staff engaged'

Once conditions have been set and a licence issued, the provider is obliged to ensure that these conditions are being met as otherwise it can be subject to fines or in the extreme case, its licence being revoked. 

The commission said certain actions can only be taken after the lapse of specific periods of time either as dictated by legislation or as stipulated in specific license conditions.

As an example, by default, the law only obliges the commission to perform an external quality audit prior to the lapse of five years from the granting of a license. In the case of AUM, this period has been considerably shortened making it more onerous on the AUM.

"In its application, the AUM always made it clear that the number of students, academic and non-academic staff will rise in stages over a number of years and the AUM has only been functioning academically since last September," the commission said.

"It is also important to clarify that AUM did submit the CVs of new staff recently engaged and the Commission was satisfied with the calibre of the lecturers which have been recruited."

The commission said that as with all other higher educational institutions in Malta, the AUM will continue to be closely monitored and if serious licence condition breaches do occur then the commission will take whatever steps will be shown to be necessary at that stage.