Jordan, the home country of the owner of the American University of Malta Hani Salah, has warned its citizens it no longer recognised qualifications from the AUM. A notice sent by the Jordanian Embassy to Malta, based in Tunis, says that “the Ministry of Higher Education and the Committee for Accrediting Academic Institutions Abroad have decided to revoke and drop the accreditation to the American University of Malta.” The announcement says that the AUM “did not comply with the basic standards and education conditions.”

The website of the Jordanian Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research now lists only three Malta-based academic institutions whose certificates are recognised by the Middle Eastern country. The recognised institutions are the University of Malta, the London School of Commerce, and the Institute of Tourism Studies. The American University of Malta has been struck off the list.

This is a particular blow for the American University of Malta that is the property of a Jordanian citizen. Hani Salah owns the Sadeen Group an Amman-based conglomerate with interests in tourism and construction.

Meanwhile the school’s license to operate in Malta was extended earlier this year for another 5 years. This was confirmed some weeks ago in Parliament by Education Minister Clifton Grima.

The AUM has less than 200 students enrolled in its programs, a small fraction of the 10,000 the institution undertook to be teaching when it first acquired its license before its opening in 2017.