The Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Mrs. Athina Michailidou, today made statements to the journalists, at the Presidential Palace, regarding the Decisions taken by the Council of Ministers, on matters of competence of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth.
Specifically, Mrs. Michailidou said in her statements: "Today, the Council of Ministers has approved the promotion of the amendment of the legislation to ensure the quality of Higher Education, through the Higher Education Quality Assurance and Certification Agency (DIPAE).
The amendment provides for the establishment and operation of branches of foreign Universities, from the European Union as well as from third countries, in Cyprus.
The benefits of this legislation are specific and consistent with the Government's wider effort to upgrade and improve the quality of Higher Education in our country. Essentially, the amendment concerns the modernization of the legislation, while simultaneously promoting the extroversion of Higher Education and upgrading its quality.
It is understood that the whole process is governed by specific criteria, control and continuous monitoring, and is done through DIPAE, just like every process for establishing a University in our country.
With this amendment, the way is opened for further competitiveness, and thus for further assurance of quality in the field of Higher Education".
Afterwards, Mrs. Michailidou also referred to a second Decision, which, as she noted, concerns the energy upgrade of school buildings. In particular, he said: "The second Decision taken today concerns the promotion, through the "THALEIA" Program, of the integrated energy upgrade of schools in buildings with almost zero energy consumption (PEDIA Project). I should mention that 25 school buildings are in the process of environmental upgrading. This process was completed in the first five schools with impressive results, since they no longer need air conditioners or heating. We are therefore continuing the implementation in another 20, through the co-financing of the "THALEIA 2021-2027" Program.
"Today's Decision therefore referred to the fact that the Cyprus Energy Office undertakes the further process, in order to complete the specific Project, which receives continuous evaluation and is consistent with our goals to upgrade the infrastructure in our schools", the Minister concluded.
When asked what is changing now, the Minister noted: "What is changing is that the first phase of the Project, the pilot, for the 5 schools was evaluated very positively and it appeared that the Cyprus Energy Office, which it should be noted was already a partner us in the Project, is also the most competent to undertake its completion. At the moment, therefore, full responsibility for the Project is given to the Cyprus Energy Office, with our own monitoring".
In another question, about which countries were interested in establishing Universities in Cyprus, the Minister noted that, in addition to the interest that has already been made public by specific universities in Greece, we also have interest from other countries in the surrounding area. When the amendment to this legislation is passed by the Parliament, we will be able to speak on the basis of specific data", concluded Mrs. Michailidou.