American University Of Malta Might Not Have Many Students But One Of Them Is Going To The Olympics
The American University of Malta may not have many students but one of them has just gone and qualified for next year’s Olympic Games.
Aly Badawy finished second at the African Sailing Championships in Algiers last week, helping his native Egypt qualify to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The AUM hailed Badawy as a sailing phenom and praised him for his monumental achievement, while the young sailor returned the favour by thanking the university for its huge support.
Based in Bormla, the AUM has faced a lot of flak for its failure to attract high numbers of students and for the manner in which it had sacked practically most of its lectures last year. Last month, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo admitted he wasn’t happy with the university’s performance, stating he has grown “allergic” to educational institutions which immediately pledge to attract thousands of students.
“Opening a university isn’t like opening a garage, it’s no joke. You must start small, start slowly and build from there,” Bartolo said. “[The higher education] sector can reap so many great things but so many bad things too. We must be jealous of our reputation and our name to ensure things run smoothly and we must be careful of those institutions who come here with lots of fancy words.”
However, the AUM played down this criticism, arguing that its enrolment is typical of new start-up universities around the world. It hasn’t published the number of students who enrolled this year but has pledged to do so in the coming weeks.
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