Bormla’s Dock 1 should be developed into a southern Higher Secondary campus – PD

The Democratic Party has questioned the need for the American University of Malta extending its Bormla campus given that it is struggling to attract students

The American University of Malta's Dock 1 campus
The American University of Malta's Dock 1 campus

The Democratic Party has questioned the need for the American University of Malta (AUM) to extend its Dock 1 site in Bormla.

Reacting to the news that AUM had applied for an extension to the campus, PD argued that an extension was unnecessary given that the university “can barely fill a garage with the number of students” it currently has.

“We fully support Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar’s concerns that there would be irreversible change of the cityscape and, like them, Partit Demokratiku must ask why would there be the need?” read the statement.

Instead, the party said it was proposing that the site be used to ease pressure on the Naxxar Higher Secondary, which it said was running at full capacity.

“How about doing something pragmatic and realistic…develop the Dock No. 1 site into a southern campus for the Higher Secondary,” said PD in a statement this afternoon.

This, it said, would reduce the North-South congestion on Malta’s roads and narrow the “disadvantage gap” between students from the north and south.

According to the PD, a southern campus would allow for the “influx of hundreds of students and staff, not 15, into Cottonera”, leading to a multiplier effect on businesses in the area.

It urged the government to “show it is really working for the good of the nation, and not for the good of the few”.

The party said the regeneration of Cottonera and the shift of economic activity to the South would not be brought about by “white elephant projects fuelled by dubious foreign investment”.

PD questioned whether it was the case that “both AUM and the government are tyring to find a way out of the difficult situation of justifying the development of Zonqor point when prima facie there is absolutely no need to”.

“Partit Demokratiku reiterates its position that the National Commissoin for Higher Education (NCFHE) should revoke the tertiary education license granted to the American University of Malta,” it continued, adding that it was difficult to envisage that AUM would ever provide the courses it had promised.

PD stressed that while increasing pluralism in the tertiary education sector was a good concept, Malta also needed to safeguard its reputation if higher education was to thrive as a platform for economic growth.