1. Professor Philippos Pouyioutas Vice Rector Dr Emilios Solomou Vice President for Administration University of Nicosia Santiago De Compostela, Spain, DIBCDPE Meeting 26-27 th May 2011

2.  There are many Higher Education (HE) institutions in Cyprus ◦ 3 state Universities offering 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd Cycle Degrees ◦ 4 private Universities offering 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd Cycle Degrees ◦ a number of HE colleges offering 1 st and 2 nd Cycle Degrees

3.  SEKAP - Council for Educational Accreditation of Colleges ◦ Provides only Accreditation for Programmes (not institutional accreditation)  ECPU – Evaluation Committee for Private Universities ◦ Provides for institutional/programme accreditation  KYSATS (Accreditation Council for Awards) – NARIC ◦ Recognizes awards from other countries  Pending Legislation for the National Quality Assurance Agency (NQAA)

4.  State Universities are priori accredited at the institutional level and can introduce anytime degrees without going through any external accreditation  They do however carry out on a voluntary basis external accreditations (e.g. EUA accreditation)

5.  Evaluation Committee for Private Universities (ECPU) – www.ecpu.ac.cy is responsible for the accreditation of private universitieswww.ecpu.ac.cy  ECPU consists of various senior professors from 3 different countries  Private Universities have gone through a number of accreditation visits in order to achieve university status

6.  Institutional Accreditation ◦ ECPU appointed 11 teams of experts to inspect academic regulations, infrastructure, Schools, support services etc.  Accreditation for each programme ◦ ECPU appointed/appoints a specialized team of experts that inspect the programme (curriculum, delivery methods, faculty, infrastructure, etc)  Quota on the number of new programmes has been imposed by ECPU on private universities

7.  Private Universities (3 out of 4, including the University of Nicosia) were accredited in September 2007  4-year initial license  Report sent to the Minister of Education and Culture, who, once advised by the ECPU, he will grant a 10 year license  Not clear however whether full autonomy will be granted to private universities  We expect that once the NQAA is in place, it will “inspect” private universities and approve programmes

8.  Double and Joint programmes and Tempus/Erasmus Mundus programmes are “new” to Cyprus  Private Universities, from what it seems, will still need to have the whole/part of the programme delivered in Cyprus, approved by the NQAA (or ECPU)  “easier” if the programme is developed/ offered through ◦ Tempus/Erasmus Mundus ◦ European project

9.  Introduction and Evaluation of Academic Programmes ◦ Approximately one year to introduce the programme ◦ Approximately one year to have the programme accredited ◦ Introduction and evaluation of programmes according to our internal regulationsinternal regulations