The University of Cyprus has secured more than €37 million in external research funding in 2025, its leadership announced on Wednesday, as the institution prepares to launch its first English-language programme and battles long-running problems over student housing and university clinics.
Rector Tasos Christofides described the university as research-oriented, pointing to a cumulative total of more than €457 million in external funding across 2,565 projects since it opened in 1993.
That track record, he said, reflects the quality of research being produced — funding from the European Research Council, of which the university holds 32 active programmes, is won through intensely competitive processes.
The 2025 grant highlights span particle physics, telecommunications, water security and biomedical research. Assistant Professor Eleni Vryonidou of the Physics Department secured an ERC Starting Grant for project EFT4NP, probing phenomena beyond the Standard Model using Large Hadron Collider data from CERN.
Professor Ioannis Krikidis received an ERC Proof-of-Concept grant for project QUARTO, applying quantum computing models to 6G networks, while Professor Marios Polycarpou secured a further Proof-of-Concept for WaterSAFE, developing cyber-physical security for drinking water systems. The biobank.cy Centre of Excellence, meanwhile, has enrolled 10,000 volunteers, advancing precision medicine and the genetic mapping of the Cypriot population.
University Council president Tasos Anastasiou set out the institution’s broader economic footprint, saying it contributes €574 million to GDP.
For every million euros invested in the university, total economic output rises by €7.06 million and GDP grows by €3.42 million, according to official figures. Anastasiou also credited the university with helping to reverse brain drain and sustain the social fabric.
Council vice-president Androulla Vassiliou said the institution aimed to produce more than technically proficient graduates. “Our graduates have learned to think and to contribute to their country. We don’t just want to produce scientists with dry knowledge, but people with critical thinking and significant skills and abilities,” she said. Three students also spoke at the event about their experience at the university.
The university’s first English-language programme — in Urban Sustainability, developed with Young Universities for the Future of Europe — will launch this September following the recent passage of enabling legislation.
Further English-language programmes are planned from September 2027, with departments already working on proposals assessed against established criteria including viability.
The History and Archaeology Department is set to relocate to the Faneromeni school in central Nicosia within approximately two years, freeing up the Kallipolis site for the Architecture Department.
The absence of university clinics remains the Medical School’s most pressing problem. University authorities warned that academics are leaving the institution because of it, describing the issue as urgently in need of resolution.
The Medical School building itself has been completed and is being furnished, with the first staff expected to move in within weeks.
Student accommodation is a long-running concern. Phase two of the university’s residences — adding 930 beds to the 208 already in place — has been held up by additional study requirements from the Finance Ministry.
A sub-study is due within days, and officials said they were optimistic the project could move forward shortly. A third phase would add a further 900 beds, bringing total construction costs to an estimated €71 million.
The university’s solar park within the buffer zone has been brought into operation, and campus development plans continue, with provision for new faculties and a park.