Aberystwyth University lost a further £270,000 in the last financial year on its ill-fated attempt to open and maintain a campus on the paradise isle of Mauritius.

The failed exotic experiment lost the institution £1m in a little over two years to 2017, and the latest financial figures from the university show that the losses continued in 2017/18.

As the university continues its two-year cost-cutting exercises against a backdrop of “huge financial pressures”, the institution’s accounts for 2017/18 show that the Mauritius failure has now chalked up losses of more than £1m between 2015 and 2018.

While in 2017 an Aberystwyth University spokesperson told the Cambrian News that the Mauritius campus was a “long-term investment” and that the project was “on target and being delivered within a planned budget”, the project was canned after posting a loss of £642,587 in 2016/17.

The university decided last year not to accept enrolment in March 2018 and will only continue to operate until all existing students have graduated.

After the loss in 2016/17, the university suffered a deficit from the venture of £280,500 in 2017/18.

The institution also paid out £172,000 to its partner in the venture, Boston Campus Ltd, for the shares in the company set up to manage the campus.

The joint venture was terminated in December 2017, with the company becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aberystwyth University, with its balance sheet incorporated into the university’s accounts.

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