Amendment to grant University status to 15-year-old colleges
There are currently two state universities in Maldives.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
The government has proposed to amend the law to give university status to educational institutions that have been running as colleges for 15 years without interruption.
The first reading of the bill was heard in Wednesday's session of Parliament. The amendment to the Higher Education and Training Act was moved by Maafannu South MP Abdullah Rifau.
The reason for the bill is as follows:
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Review the conditions under which universities can operate in order to expand higher education services in Maldives and allow those with the resources and abilities to provide university education
The main amendment in the bill is to relax some of the requirements that colleges have to meet to be granted university status and to make some of the requirements more detailed. Accordingly, Rifau proposed that colleges that have been in service for 15 years continuously be given university status.
As the law currently stands:
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University status will be given to places that have been running as colleges for 20 years
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If a foreign university is operating in Maldives, it must have been registered in that country for 10 years; the amendment does not change this
In addition, the amendment requires a college to meet seven additional conditions when applying for conversion to a university. Some of these include:
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Conducting own or external programs in at least three areas of Maldives National Qualification Framework Level 7 and Level 9
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At least 1,000 students enrolled in courses from Level 7 and above of the Maldives National Qualifications Framework
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Be a college with experience in working with international organisations
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At least 10% of the academic staff teaching in the academic programs should be PhD holders
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Have adequate facilities to run a university that meets the standards set by the Ministry
There are currently two state universities in Maldives. They are the Maldives National University (MNU) and the Islamic University of Maldives (IUM).
If the amendment is passed, many of the institutions that are currently operating as colleges will have the opportunity to gain university status.
A similar amendment was introduced several times in the last 19th Parliament.
