The Ministry of Education and Parliament are discussing whether it is possible to introduce courses in English at public universities and in what format. They first started talking about this eight years ago, and now the discussion has reached a new level.
A new round of discussions began after the Cypriot authorities gave the green light to the opening of branches of Greek universities.
The Ministry of Education has prepared a bill that will pave the way for the opening of bachelor's programs at the University of Cyprus taught in English. The same bill will allow foreign universities to open their branches in Cyprus.
According to the bill, education in English will not be free even at a state university. The amount of tuition fees and the size of quotas for foreign language students will be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers. Students at public universities will not be able to switch from studying in Greek to studying in English, and vice versa.
Since 2016, when this issue was first discussed, different opinions have been expressed. The proposal to charge public university tuition has generated the most controversy. Deputies did not reach a consensus on whether this should be done in principle, let alone specific amounts. The Ministry of Education has clarified that the state cannot pay for studies in English for students who do not speak Greek.
According to the rector of the University of Cyprus, Tasos Christofides, the university should charge tuition fees in English. But it should be less than in private universities.
The text was prepared based on materials from Cyprus Mail.
More on the topic
On July 24, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal to limit the number of foreign students in the country's universities. An exception was made for citizens of a number of states. Details at the link.
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