Martin Scicluna has stepped down as chairman of the national commission for further and higher education just a fortnight after sanctioning a license to the controversial American University of Malta.

Mr Scicluna said he was not stepping down because of some disagreement with the government but because the three-year mandate of his board had elapsed.

Despite expressing his wish to see through the issue of the AUM license, Mr Scicluna said Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had not extend his term by a few weeks because the law precluded him from extending his mandate.

During a press conference, Mr Scicluna said the terms of the license are not negotiable.

Asked whether he can give an assurance that things will not change upon his departure, Mr Scicluna said he had the minister's word it would not.

The Sadeen Group had told Times of Malta that it wanted to negotiate the terms before they accept the license.

With premises in Marsascala and Cospicua, the AUM is scheduled to open its doors on less than two months time.

Mr Scicluna had said the commission has not yet approved the building at Dock 1 in Cospicua for use as a university campus.

He also said that the dormitories at Żonqor will eventually be run on commercial basis, accommodating some 1,000 students from the Middle East and Russia.

The controversy was whipped up when the AOM promoted itself as a university without initially having such accreditation.