A confidential investigation for its international operations was conducted by the University of East London, after the closure of its branch in Cyprus only a few months after its opening and having only 17 students in the first semester.

UEL asked Sir David Melville, president of Pearson Education and former vice chancellors of Middlesex and Kent universities, to carry out the investigation.

The news that UEL closes the university in Cyprus, appeared in April.

Before the news, the institution faced a period of turbulence with three senior executives leaving within a month, the period between Christmas and New Year. Vice Chancellor Patrick McGhee resigned for health reasons, while the international vice chancellor and financial director resigned.

As reported in the Times Higher Education, the minutes of the governors’ meeting held in May 2012 indicate concerns about the project in Cyprus and its development stage, with some to warn that "the completion of the necessary due diligence had not been proved" .

The original plans were that the university in Cyprus would likely require funding from the UEL of €1,5 million.

The minutes of the meeting of May 2013, show that the governors received "confidential verbal report by Sir David Melville summarizing his research on recent international work of the university and the results of his report on the issue."

UEL spokesman said "the report is not available externally in order to protect the commercial interests of the university."

"According to the best practices, we appointed an external consultant to examine the issue. As is customary with all reports, we will learn from any proposals to be made by the report, "he added.