ABERYSTWYTH University has refused to comment on whether it plans to close its campus on the paradise island of Mauritius just two years after it opened.

The loss-making campus, currently only operating at around five per cent capacity, will close if the university council has its way.

Minutes from the October meeting of the council – now taken down from the university website – say the governing body has decided it will “not enrol further intakes of students” at the branch campus from March next year.

According to the BBC’s Newyddion 9 programme, the minutes read: “Discussions with the academic departments which deliver programmes at the branch campus had indicated that there was no appetite for an intake of new students in March 2018.

“The university will not enrol further intakes of students at the branch campus.”

The controversial campus on the island, initially delayed from its mooted opening in 2014, opened in 2015 to much fanfare – but questions were raised early on as to how many students it had attracted and whether the investment was worth the money as staff were cut and facilities closed at Aberystwyth amid dwindling finances.

The campus lost £375,000 in its first year, as revealed in the Cambrian News earlier this year, with just 40 students enrolling.

Aberystwyth University refused to give a comment, and would not say why the minutes were removed from its website.

See this week’s Aberystwyth paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition tomorrow