‘The University of Athens, the first and most historic university of our country, extends its reach beyond our borders. Alongside this, new pathways now open up for students, academics, and researchers alike. New opportunities for knowledge, outward engagement, innovation, and creative endeavour. We demonstrate in practice that Greek public universities are emerging as centres of learning in South-Eastern Europe, institutions of quality, standing, and international outlook. They stand on equal footing with leading universities worldwide. They are capable of meeting the demanding educational challenges of our time’, said, among other things, the Greek Minister of Education, Sofia Zacharaki, in her address at the event marking the founding and operation of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens – Cyprus Branch.
She added: ‘I wish to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, to its Rector, and to its academic community for their vision, dedication, and perseverance’.
The full address by the Minister is below:
‘It is with deep emotion and a profound sense of responsibility that I stand before you today at an occasion which marks a new and luminous milestone in the shared journey of Greece and Cyprus.
This is not merely a moment that honours our past; it is one that lays, with boldness and optimism, the foundations of our common future.
Today’s ceremony to mark the founding and operation of the Cyprus Branch of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens is far more than an institutional act.
It is an act of progress—and an act of faith.
Faith in the power of education.
Faith in the younger generation.
Faith in the deep and unshakeable bond between our two countries.
For Greece and Cyprus are bound not only by indissoluble ties of history.
But by the language that unites us, the values that guide us, and the vision that inspires us.
And today, through the vehicle of higher education, they write together a new chapter of academic excellence and cooperation.
Aristotle taught us that “education is the best provision for old age”.
Today, we invest in that provision—for a brighter tomorrow.
The University of Athens, the first and most historic university of our country, extends its reach beyond our borders.
Alongside this, new pathways now open up for students, academics, and researchers alike.
New opportunities for knowledge, outward engagement, innovation, and creative endeavour.
We demonstrate in practice that Greek public universities are emerging as centres of learning in South-Eastern Europe, institutions of quality, standing, and international outlook.
They stand on equal footing with leading universities worldwide.
They are capable of meeting the demanding educational challenges of our time.
We are doing so:
Through the expansion of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within our public universities, attracting—for the first time—growing numbers of international scholars and students.
Through seventy-four joint and double postgraduate programmes between Greek universities and leading institutions abroad, including in Cyprus. I note, by way of example, the collaboration between the University of Patras and the University of Nicosia, as well as that between the University of West Attica and the Cyprus University of Technology.
Through a significant increase in funding for research and innovation, and for the upgrading and remodelling of facilities.
Through strengthened welfare provision and enhanced support for our students, including increased financial assistance and the development of new, modern, and secure halls of residence.
And through the historic reform that has paved the way for the establishment of the first four non-state universities in Greece, among them the University of Nicosia.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are particularly moved by the fact that, for decades, thousands of Cypriots have pursued their studies at Greek universities, and especially at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and have become true ambassadors of high-quality tertiary education beyond our borders, embodying the values and excellence they have gained.
Today, that legacy of knowledge and service returns to the island, stronger, more structured, and more strategically grounded.
I wish to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, to its Rector, and to its academic community for their vision, dedication, and perseverance.
I also extend my warm thanks to the Cyprus Government and personally to the President for his tangible support, his steadfast belief in this endeavour, and the spirit of constructive cooperation that has brought us to this point.
Let me also say that this achievement did not come about overnight, nor by chance.
It builds upon the excellent work undertaken at the Ministry of Education by my predecessors, Niki Kerameus and Kyriakos Pierrakakis, whose initiatives laid essential foundations for the path we continue today.
Nor can I fail to acknowledge the seed from which today’s event has grown—the close and sustained cooperation with the Minister of Education, Sport, and Youth of the Republic of Cyprus, Athena Michaelidou.
Over these past months we have worked closely and productively, defining common priorities and joint actions in the field of education.
Indeed, the Hellenic Parliament recently ratified a new Programme of Cooperation in Education for 2023-2027, providing a strategic framework for collaboration in education, language, and culture, and further strengthening the ties between our two countries.
Our objective is clear:
To deliver to the younger generations an education that is strong—one that connects meaningfully with social policy and the labour market.
One grounded in advanced knowledge.
One committed to equality of opportunity.
One that supports every young person, without exclusion.
For knowledge must never be a privilege; it must be a right.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Cyprus Branch of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens is not merely an educational initiative.
It is an investment in human capital.
An investment in geopolitical stability, in cooperation, and in progress.
An investment in peace and in the cultural vitality of our wider region.
As Nelson Mandela put it, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.
Today, Greece and Cyprus choose to change the world through knowledge.
With confidence.
With purpose.
And with vision.
We are committed to continuing our tangible support for our public universities.
To investing in the quality of studies they provide.
To strengthening their international orientation.
And to creating equal opportunities for our young people here, in their own country.
For we want our children to reach further than the horizon before them.
To dream boldly, and to have the means to realise those dreams.
Today, we take yet another step forward.
A step that unites us.
A step that inspires us.
A step that demonstrates that when Greece and Cyprus work together, they can achieve great and lasting things’.
