Updated at 11.10 am with video

Education Minister Clifton Grima has defended the government's decision to grant the American University of Malta a licence extension despite it never delivering a fully-fledged campus project.  

The AUM was first given a licence in 2016 as part of a deal that would see it develop two campuses and enrol thousands of students.

But those plans fell through and it only managed to enrol a few students. 

Asked how the decision to grant it another five-year licence extension could be justified, Grima said the decision was taken by a fully independent and competent body which only grants licences against set criteria. 

If it was given a licence extension, then it was clear that the AUM had met the necessary criteria, he said. 

Asked whether he still believed that the AUM would deliver on its promises, Grima said he had confidence that the project had reached the requirements to continue on its way forward and that was why it had its license renewed. 

The AUM argues that the obligations that were imposed on it back in 2016 will only kick in once it has developed two separate campuses, as stipulated in that agreement.

The AUM's original licence expired in 2021 but it was then given a one-year extension.

The government never explained that decision, and, in the ensuing months, Prime Minister Robert Abela announced that rather than develop a campus at Żonqor, along with the one in Cospicua, the AUM would be setting up a campus at Smart City.