Education

Education in Cyprus is overseen by Ministry of Education and Culture. The education system is divided into: pre-primary (ages 3–6), primary (ages 6–12), secondary (ages 12–18) and higher (ages 18+). Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 15.

Parents may choose to educate their children either at public or private, Greek or international school. Among international schools there is a large number of British and American schools, one French (in Nicosia) and four Russian schools.

The Russian schools are situated in Nicosia (1), Limassol (2) and Paphos (1). The Russian Embassy school in Nicosia is the only school accredited by the Russian Ministry of Education that issues Russian certificates to the high school graduates. The educational process in other schools – in Paphos and Limassol, is constructed using the Russian programmes, with emphasis on the in-depth study of English and Greek. The Ministry of Education in Cyprus licences the Russian schools which teach the children in their mother tongue. After graduation, they receive a certificate and sample Cypriot state certificate of the Russian Federation after attestation at the Russian Embassy in Cyprus. The academic year is split into trimesters and holidays coincide with the Russian.

The Higher Education System includes 3 academic degrees: Bachelor with four academic years of full-time study; Master with duration from 5 to 6 years of full-time study; Doctorate with 3 additional academic years of full-time doctoral studies.

At the present time, within the Cypriot Higher Education System, there are 8 universities and 45 institutions of higher education of non-university level. Teaching is conducted in Greek and English. The number of local students as well as foreigners studying at the universities of Cyprus is growing every year.

Public Universities: University of Cyprus, Open University of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology.

Private Universities: European University Cyprus, Frederick University, Neapolis University, University of Nicosia, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Cyprus.