Godfrey VellaThe National Commission for Further and Higher Education has been without a CEO for more than six months, the Times of Malta is informed.
Sources close to the commission, which decides on licences to universities and other tertiary educational institutions, said important decisions, including those on the beleaguered American University of Malta, were being made without the necessary input of education professionals and green-lit by a non-executive chairman who was not qualified in the area.
As the chairman was politically appointed, one could not exclude the possibility that the political masters pulled some strings, an official commented on the condition of anonymity.
Nor could one be sure that pressure by the government was not pushing upright individuals not to want to have any association with the commission, he added.
Two commission CEOs have resigned over the past year.
Edel Cassar stepped down a year ago at the end of her three-year term, from November 2013 to October 2016. She did not seek re-appointment. Her successor, Martin Borg, left last August, just a few weeks before the AUM opened its doors.
Martin Scicluna was succeeded as chairman by Godfrey Vella in August 2016, just after the commission decided to grant a licence to the AUM. Mr Vella is an IT guru who was named by the government as Malta’s Digital Champion and sits on the Malta Communications Authority board.
Mr Vella confirmed, when asked, that the post of CEO was vacant. Asked why, he replied that “over the last months, there have been ongoing discussions on changes in the regulatory environment for education, which will extend the scope of the operation of the commission and which will affect the role and function of the new CEO to be engaged”.
I am doing my utmost to support management and staff in their respective functions
He did not elaborate on the changes mentioned but said a call for a new CEO would be issued in the coming days. Mr Vella also confirmed that, in the absence of a CEO, he was making certain decisions, though he was a non-executive chairman.
“Certain actions, such as employment, have, by law, to take place through the chair,” Mr Vella said. “My role is not that of an executive chairman, but in the temporary absence of a CEO, I am doing my utmost to support management and staff in their respective functions,” he added.
The commission and its role in regulating and monitoring tertiary education licences have come under fire in recent months in view of what has been happening at the AUM.
Although it was supposed to open its new campus in Cospicua with over 300 students, the private university has only managed to enrol about 15. It dismissed all its lecturers and faculty members just days before their six-month probation period was over.
Despite concerns that the private institution was not adhering to its licence conditions, the regulator insisted that all was in order and that the Jordanian investors behind the project were not in breach.
In a press release issued a few days ago, after a spot check was held at the AUM by two of its inspectors, the commission said that, so far, it was not worried over the AUM’s performance.
This newspaper is informed the AUM’s administration was told about the spot check at least 24 hours in advance.
A commission spokesman confirmed that two inspectors visited the AUM on January 19, adding that it was not “an impromptu spot-check”.
“The outcome of the visit is still being considered and discussed internally by the NCFHE. and depending on the outcome of these discussions, if necessary the commission will update its plans for the monitoring of operations at the AUM,” the spokesman said.