University of Cyprus, TEPAK to alow GCEs, IB for admission

— Zenios: Medical school “very soon”

The University of Cyprus and the Cyprus University of Technology (TEPAK) will accept some 100 to 200 students from private schools or those who have high grades from GCE Advanced Level exams and the International Baccalaureate.

Admission requirements include an ‘A’ in Modern Greek and an ‘A’ or ‘B’ for three other A-Levels in a relevant subject to the chosen course.

Education Minister Andreas Demetriou said that the new admissions at the two state universities will begin from the next academic year starting in September. The new standards are geared towards students from private secondary schools who did not sit for the national exams, as well as students of the minority Maronite, Armenian and Latin communities.

The Minister said that the number of the aforementioned students’ categories would be limited to a quota of 10% of first-year students at the University of Cyprus 3% of new enrolments at TEPAK.

“We have to respect the universities’ autonomy to decide on the criteria for admission”, he said, adding that it is not a matter which concerns the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The new admission standards do not require the approval of the House of Representatives.

UCy Rector Stavros Zenios said that the total student body is expect to expand from the current 5,000 to about 7,500 in four years’ time, with the proportion of admissions from private schools using GCEs and IB limited to 10% of the increased intake or up to 200 fresh students.

This helped calm concern raised by high school teachers that that the new enrolment would be at the expense of public school students.

“We conducted our own study and found that private school students represent about 13% of all high school students in Cyprus,” Zenios explained.

He said that the number of new admissions will increase over the years because new courses are being introduced every year.

“One of these is for Biology Studies that will be a precursor for the new Medical School that will begin soon. We expect a first year admission of 70 students for that,” Zenios said.

He added that other new courses, such as the MBA, were being regarded as competitive and a justified reason to keep Cypriots from studying abroad. However, by his own admission, most courses will still be taught in Greek.