The parliament has amended the 2011 national university law authorizing the president to appoint nine members to the university’s 13-member governing council.
The government-sponsored amendment bill was passed with 38 votes in favour and 16 against at today’s sitting of the People’s Majlis.
Under the existing law, the president only appoints the chancellor of the university, who becomes the head of the governing council.
Once the amendments are ratified, the president will appoint the chancellor, vice chancellor and deputy vice chancellors in addition to five members from outside the university to the council.
The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had warned that the changes will compromise the university’s independence and politicise the institution.
Politicising the university would pave the way for hiring and dismissing officials for political reasons as well as the “misuse of the university’s students, employees, and resources to achieve political purposes,” the party said earlier this week.
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