Top AUM official lands senior MCAST role as questions mount over appointment

A senior official from the embattled American University of Malta (AUM) has been recruited to a top management position within MCAST’s commercial arm, raising fresh questions about appointments within Malta’s public education sector.

David O’Shaughnessy, until recently AUM’s Director of Student Affairs, has been appointed General Manager of MCAST Gateway to Industry (MG2i), the tertiary institution’s commercial subsidiary responsible for industry engagement and revenue-generating activities.

The appointment has sparked concern among MCAST insiders, who described the move as the latest example of the institution becoming a landing spot for officials associated with troubled education entities.

O’Shaughnessy, an Irish national who has lived in Malta for more than two decades and resides in Sliema, spent the last three years at the American University of Malta, an institution that has repeatedly attracted criticism over student recruitment, academic standards and governance.

His appointment comes less than a year after he was named in allegations published by The Shift concerning the treatment of a group of Afghan women studying at AUM under an international scholarship programme.

Multiple students alleged that O’Shaughnessy warned them that if they left Malta to join family members elsewhere in Europe, the university would use its contacts to report them to authorities and facilitate their deportation.

According to testimonies obtained by The Shift, students were told during a meeting that AUM and its scholarship funders had connections across Europe and could inform authorities of their whereabouts should they leave Malta without authorisation.

The allegations emerged after several Afghan students departed Malta amid growing uncertainty surrounding their residency status and the future of their studies. O’Shaughnessy and AUM declined to respond to questions at the time.

The latest appointment has drawn comparisons with another controversial recruitment linked to the education sector and MCAST.

Only months ago, former Malta Further and Higher Education Authority chief executive Rose Anne Cuschieri was awarded a lucrative consultancy contract by Education Minister Clifton Grima following her departure from the regulator.

Cuschieri’s tenure at the authority ended after Malta failed to secure recognition on the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR), a significant setback for the country’s higher education accreditation framework.

Despite that failure, she was subsequently engaged as a policy consultant to support MCAST’s administration, a move that also drew criticism from within the sector.

Asked to explain O’Shaughnessy’s recruitment, MCAST Principal and CEO Stephen Vella insisted that the appointment followed established procedures.

A spokesman for Vella said the role was filled through an open call for applications, followed by an interview process, and that O’Shaughnessy was selected on merit.

Vella declined to answer questions about whether O’Shaughnessy’s appointment had been recommended or facilitated by the Education Ministry.

The recruitment has attracted additional scrutiny because it coincides with the departure of the employee who previously held a substantially similar role.

Brian Decelis, the operations manager of MG2i and a political candidate for ADPD, was recently informed that his contract would not be renewed.

Decelis had been employed on a three-year contract and was responsible for operational management within the commercial arm of MCAST.

Responding to questions, Vella maintained that Decelis’ termination was carried out in accordance with the terms of his contract and denied any political motivation behind the decision.