Glasgow Caledonian University is trying to sell its “white elephant” New York campus project.
An email to staff also stated they would "exit" the project if a "partnership" did not happen.
Labour MSP Jackie Baillie said: “This is an ignominious end to a vanity project encouraged by the SNP government.
“At a time when university staff have felt forced to take industrial action, it is simply unfathomable that this white elephant was still going.
“This is a welcome end to an expensive and doomed project that should go down in history as a guide in how not to run a project of this nature.”
The New York satellite campus, backed by former principal Pamela Gillies, was opened by former First Minister Alex Salmond in 2014.
His successor Nicola Sturgeon visited in 2015 and described it as an “absolutely fantastic development”, but the scheme struggled on a range of fronts.
Protracted discussions with state authorities meant Caley’s New York outpost was only able to start awarding degrees from 2017.
By 2022, the Glasgow institution Glasgow Caledonian had doled out £21.4m in loans to the project, but only brought in a fraction of that sum in tuition fees.
We revealed last year that only 129 students had enrolled on degree programmes since the campus had been granted a license.
An email by Professor Stephen Decent, the principal, stated: "Despite the significant efforts of many staff in the UK and New York in building highly regarded academic programmes, GCNYC has to date not reached its potential."
He wrote: "Following a discussion at the University Court in February, it was agreed that we would actively seek a partnership with another educational organisation, with a view to the partner ultimately acquiring GCNYC from us as part of this process.
"To allow the space for a potential partner to play a lead role in future planning as partnership discussions progress, we have decided to pause student recruitment and admissions for Trimester A 2023 in New York. Whilst a partnership is our preferred option for the college, in the event a partnership cannot be established, we will initiate a process to exit from New York."
A University source said: "This is a very welcome move by the new management at GCU. Staff will be relieved that the University has finally seen sense and stopped the financial drain across the Atlantic."
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