Free public university education is under attack
Statement by AKEL MP Andros Kafkalias after the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Culture
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 3rd June 2020, Nicosia
The government following the logic that public universities must operate as regular businesses, that they must survive according to market rules and the general rules of trade in commodities, and that they must not gain a comparative advantage over competition (namely private universities), has submitted rules to the House of Representatives that are attempting to:
- Impose tuition fees and,
- Abolish the pan-Cypriot examination process, as the main entrance to public universities for undergraduate programs, which will be delivered in a language other than the official languages of the Republic.
Indeed, ruling DISY party, with the proposal it has submitted today in the Parliamentary Committee on Education to cancel the maximum price/ceiling of tuition fees in public universities, instead of supporting the thousands of private university students demanding reductions in tuition fees, is paving the way for additional increases in private university tuition fees.
Once again, I stress that, as AKEL, we support the introduction of programs in foreign languages in public universities. It is an added value. By doing so, the development of public universities will be strengthened and the way will be paved to attract foreign students, but also the efforts to forge cooperation with universities abroad will be enhanced further.
What we do disagree with is the imposition of tuition fees and the abolition of the pan-Cypriot examination process. Such a development, if it were to be implemented, will mark the beginning of the end of free public university education in our country.
State student care must be strengthened
Today in the Education Committee we also discussed the issue of state student care.
First of all, I would like to note that the Ministry of Education’s representatives admitted that there is a delay in the start of the payment of the student grant, due of course to the pandemic as well. We called for the strengthening of the Student Welfare Service, so that the grant to our student’s families will be provided as soon as possible.
In addition, we called for an increase in the funds for student benefits, but also that it should be ensured that all available funds are allocated for student welfare.
At the same time, we have submitted specific proposals, for provisions to provide further support to vulnerable groups, to support students abroad, such as for example by subsidizing air fares, to increase support towards students from large families and the modernisation of legislation. Finally, we stressed the need to digitize and simplify the application procedure for student grants and benefits.
