Brief History
The University of Cyprus was established in 1989 and admitted its first students in 1992. It was founded in response to the growing intellectual needs of the Cypriot people, and is well placed to fulfil the numerous aspirations of the country.
The University is a vigorous community of scholars engaged in the generation and diffusion of knowledge. Despite its brief history, the University of Cyprus has earned the respect of the international academic community and the appreciation of Cypriot society.
Admission for the majority of undergraduate students is by entrance examinations organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Cyprus, and the competition for places is approximately 10 to 1. A number of places are reserved for students with special needs or circumstances. Every effort is made to offer practical solutions to students facing specific problems, be it access to University facilities, or assistance on academic issues.
When the University of Cyprus first opened its doors to students, the incoming class consisted of 486 undergraduate students. During the academic year 2010-2011 there were 4691 undergraduate and 1549 postgraduate students.
There are eight Faculties and 22 departments within the University:
-
the Faculty of Humanities with three departments and the Language Centre
-
the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences with five departments and the
Oceanography Centre,
-
the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education with four departments and the
Centre for Gender Studies*,
-
the Faculty of Economics and Management with two departments, the Economic
Research Centre and the Centre for Banking and Financial Research,
-
the Faculty of Engineering with four departments, the Nanotechnology Research
Centre and KIOS Research Centre for Intelligent Systems and Networks,
-
the Faculty of Letters with three departments and the Archaeological Research
Unit
-
the Faculty of Graduate Studies
-
* also under the aegis of the Faculty of Humanities