Uni rectors reiterate call for courses in English

The island’s university rectors on Tuesday called for a push forward of legislative regulation that will allow courses at public universities in Cyprus to be taught in languages other than Greek.

President of the group of rectors, Tepak rector Professor Panayiotis Zafiris said that during the 32nd general assembly of the session of rectors of Cyprus universities held on Monday evening, several issues concerning public and private higher education were discussed.

One of the most important issues, he noted, concerned the persistent request of public universities to offer study programmes in other languages.

“We decided, as a matter of principle, to call on the state to proceed immediately, through the House of Representatives, with legislation that will allow public universities to offer, at the undergraduate level, programmes of study in other languages,” Zafiris said.

He said the relevant bill has been sitting in the House for five years “and unfortunately it has not progressed to a vote for many different reasons.

“The group of rectors, with its unanimous decision, calls for the immediate legislative regulation of this issue,” he said.

Also discussed was the issue concerning the University-Industry Liaison Offices programme, which offers the possibility of placing students in the labour market.

According to Zafiris, an evaluation of the programme’s progress, in which all Cypriot universities participate, was made and the ways and possibilities of continuing the programme with the contribution of the state and the finance ministry were discussed.

Additionally, the meeting discussed the Cyprus Libraries Consortium, in which all the universities also participate. According to Zafiris, the members of the session were briefed on the progress of the consortium and discussed ways to enable the universities to access databases and journal resources at lower costs.