Higher education cannot be internationalised if state universities are not given a chance to offer bachelor’s degrees in foreign languages, Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said on Friday.
Though some master’s programmes are available in English at state universities, bachelor’s degrees are only in Greek.
Discussions to change this have hit various stumbling blocks in parliament, with the matter postponed at the House education committee.
Committee chair Pavlos Mylonas told the state broadcaster some MPs fear that offering bachelor’s degrees in foreign languages will open ‘the back door’ for university acceptance to students with qualifications other than the Pancyprian exams.
This would violate the equality principle and would give students at private schools more favourable treatment at the expense of students in public schools, he argued.
Michaelidou told the state broadcaster offering degrees in foreign languages does not affect any other degrees that are on offer.
Granting more opportunities to state universities would go hand-in-hand with equal treatment for all those who choose to study in Cyprus – including Cypriots, she said.
