AUM axes lecturers to make up for poor student intake

Sources said it was evident that the wage cost was unsustainable, but the problem was a result of weak planning

Running costs at AUM had become unsustainable given the poor intake of students
Running costs at AUM had become unsustainable given the poor intake of students

High wage costs and too few students forced the American University of Malta to axe all full-time lecturers as it tries to contain losses.

Sources close to the project have told MaltaToday that the poor student intake made the running costs unsustainable after the AUM enticed lecturers with annual salaries ranging between €90,000 and €135,000.

“The wage bill could not be justified when compared to the low student intake at the start of the first academic year last September,” the sources said.

The salaries are way above the average paid by the University of Malta where the highest paid lecturers can expect to earn around €75,000.

All 15 full-time lecturers at AUM were made redundant on 3 January by an email sent by provost John Ryder. No reason for the termination was given and the university was not obliged by law to provide one, given that all lecturers were still working their probationary period.

The mass redundancies followed several job terminations in the previous months. The sources said the six-month probation would have come to an end on 16 February.

“It is evident that the wage cost was unsustainable, but the problem was a result of weak planning. Student intake numbers were based on over-confident projections that failed to take into account the difficulty of attracting people to a university with no track record,” the sources said.

In a bid to cut costs, AUM is expected to recruit part-time lecturers, a move, the sources believe should have happened at the very start of operations.

In September 2016, just after AUM received a university licence from the National Commission for Further and Higher Education, Ryder went on record saying the institution would open its doors the following year with 300 students.

However, 12 months later AUM could only attract 23 students. The AUM is run by Sadeen Malta Holding Ltd, which is an offshoot of the Jordanian construction company Sadeen, whose only shareholder is Jordanian national Hani Saleh. The company was given a 99-year lease to operate a university with two campuses in Bormla and Marsaskala.

Sources said works on the Bormla campus were ongoing but the AUM shareholder was uncomfortable with the tenuous financial situation.

Construction works on the Zonqor Point campus in Marsaskala have not started amid calls from the Opposition for the land to be handed back to the public after AUM’s failure to attract students.

The university has had to revisit its target and is now projecting a student intake of 150 in the second academic year that starts in September. Despite the financial troubles, Ryder has insisted the AUM would be opening its doors again for students on 15 January when classes for the spring semester are slated to start.

He told MaltaToday last Friday that it was business as usual at AUM and refrained from commenting on “any staff action, whether particular or general”.

Ryder said AUM was expecting some new students to start this month, however he would not say how many.

AUM has embarked on several student recruitment drives overseas but Ryder has acknowledged that it was “challenging” to attract people to a university that was starting from scratch.