The National Commission for Further and Higher Education has met the investors behind the American University of Malta to spell out what is expected of them.
There was no deadline for the commission to make its decision on whether to grant the AUM a licence and talks could go back and forth until “they get it right – or not, as the case may be”, the commission’s chairman Martin Scicluna said yesterday.
The Sadeem Group are the investors but it is not known who is actually behind the project, with Mr Scicluna declining to provide names yesterday.
He said they comprised local and foreign academics and advisers. It was in their interest to bring forth the right expertise to supply the information needed to convince the commission that the university would be meeting the set criteria.
“The American University is being handled by my quality assurance committee, which has a small panel that deals with the people behind the American University.
“We had a meeting with them a couple of days ago to spell out what we really expect. If they don’t give us what we expect, they won’t get anywhere. It’s as simple as that,” Mr Scicluna said.
Addressing a conference yesterday launching the National Quality Assurance Framework for Further and Higher Education, Mr Scicluna said the political firestorm that erupted recently involving his commission “was particularly unwelcome because those who fanned it seemed determined to be confused by the facts”.
Controversy had arisen when a legal notice amending the licensing requirements for new universities was published just after Heads of Agreement being signed with the university’s investors, with accusations made that the new regulations were lowering standards.
Mr Scicluna stressed yesterday that a decision on accreditation would be made independently after a rigorous due process – and there would be no lowering of standards.
“Although there has been a change to the legal notice under which my commission operates, this was done to bring Malta into line with other forms of university that are operating very successfully around the world.
“Those who claim that the wider definition of a university to which we now operate will somehow vitiate Malta’s reputation in higher education are simply incorrect,” Mr Scicluna added.
Every programme had to satisfy quality criteria, which were established three years ago and remained untouched by the legal notice, he said.
To correct the misinterpretations about the legal notice, Mr Scicluna said he had asked the commission to issue guidelines to clarify the interpretation of the legal notice and remove any ambiguities on accreditation in specific areas.
The guidelines seek to clarify issues such as the experience expected of applicants and the interpretation of the “national interest” in the context of the government’s policy on more pluralism in higher education.
University licences ‘not for sale’
No one will be buying a licence to operate a university in Malta, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said yesterday. A university was not a business, he stressed.
“It would be crazy to suggest that Malta should not go for a part of the worldwide market share but this does not come about by lowering standards. Whoever applies will go through rigorous screening on programmes, delivery and governance,” Mr Bartolo said. Referring to the quality assurance framework, he cautioned against using such jargon as “quality control”, which were imported from the business sphere. “We can’t have a scenario where managerialism goes mad and education becomes a matter of ticking the boxes to meet the criteria.”
Malta needed to work towards the accreditation of informal, non-formal and work-based learning, he said.
“Most of us involved in education come from the academic sphere, so we’re not so good at accrediting these areas. Education does not begin and end at school. The 21st century skills of communication, critical thinking and teamwork are not tested. We’re all about recalling, remembering and regurgitating,” Mr Bartolo said.