House committee postpones foreign university course discussion

Discussions at the House education committee on foreign university branches and foreign language programmes at the University of Cyprus have been postponed for a fortnight.

The education committee met on Wednesday in the presence of Education Minister Athena Michaelidou, who said it was “time to move beyond the distortions of the past”, however MPs voiced different opinions both in the meeting and in statements afterwards.

After Michaelidou left, the meeting continued behind closed doors.

Wednesday’s decision was to postpone discussions for two weeks.

The minister told MPs that establishing foreign university branches in Cyprus was already permitted by law and was provided for in EU legislation, adding that the bill tabled by the ministry included safety valves for proper evaluation of the branches, the number of faculties and programmes, their relationship with the mother institution and viability studies.

Regarding foreign language programmes, Michaelidou said public universities offered post-graduate programmes in foreign languages, which had received positive and encouraging evaluations.

The foreign language programmes would be self-funding and any additional entry criteria would make them less attractive.

“The branches of foreign universities and foreign language programmes take us forward. We must all behave responsibly,” the education minister said.

MPs said they would decide what was in the best public interest, raised issues of competitiveness between public and private universities and “frivolous administration”, questioned how aware the ministry was in critical issues of tertiary education and said some parties would be submitting amendments to the bills.