I'm amazed to hear that all those cadets, or most of them, are after a non-sponsored/self-sponsored MPL training! That school must have exerted all the efforts to market its failing product. I'm not against MPL, but it shouldn't go this way though.
Greedy schools took advantage of the heedless enthusiasm of wannabes, while ICAO officials didn't do much to raise the awareness of the airline-specific/tailored new type of licence. I think this is where the problem lies.