Cyprus
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Introduction
- Cyprusan island in the extreme eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, 65 kilometres (40 mi) south of Turkey, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) west of the Syrian coast.
- Population is 818,200 (End of 2003 including estimates for Turkish Cypriots).
- The nationality is called Cypriot.
Overview of Education in Cyprus
After several private higher education colleges had been operating on the island for decades, Cyprus established the first public university, the University of Cyprus, in 1992. With the additional expansion of operations by the Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, government spending on research and development increased substantially and efforts began to promote Cyprus as a center for services, business, and education in the region. The positions which are allocated to Cypriots for studies in higher education institutions are distributed among the candidates based on the results of the competitive Entrance Examinations which are held every year by the Department of Higher and Tertiary Education. Part of the efforts to improve higher education provided by both public and private institutions, was the recent law which allows the establishment and operation of private universities in Cyprus. As a result, there are currently three public universities (Cyprus University of Technology, Open University of Cyprus, University of Cyprus) and three private universities (University of Nicosia, Frederick University, European University Cyprus).
Members of the VUSSC focal point in Cyprus
Dr. Vrasidas, Charalambos (Cyprus)
| Position | Executive Director |
| Affiliation | CARDET (Center for the Advancement of Research & Development in Educational Technology) |
| Location | Nicosia, Cyprus |
| Node role | Advisory Group Member |
| Brief Biography | Dr. Charalambos Vrasidas is Executive Director of CARDET and Associate Professor of Learning Technologies and Innovation at the University of Nicosia. He has held positions at institutions such as Western Illinois University, Arizona State University, Satellite Education Network, and Center for the Application of Information Technologies. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the International Council of Educational Media, an UNESCO affiliated organization. A former Fulbright scholar, Dr. Vrasidas holds a PhD from Arizona State University. His research and development expertise include the design and evaluation of virtual communities, research methods, international development, and e-learning. He has received grants to design, develop, implement, and evaluate research and development projects from major funding agencies and corporations including the National Science Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Microsoft, the US Department of Education, the United Nations Development Program, and the European Commission. He has developed and evaluated innovative education and training projects and e-learning initiatives for K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and professional education. He has consulted with private companies, and Ministries and Departments of Education in Asia, Europe, and the United States. He has published 4 books and more than 60 articles in international journals and edited volumes. He is the editor-in-chief of the scholarly journal Educational Media International. His books include Distance Education & Distributed Learning, Online Professional Development for Teachers, and Preparing Teachers to Teach with Technology. His latest book won the Outstanding Book of the year award from the Association of Education Communications and Technology. A well-known speaker, he has presented more than 100 papers at national and international events. (www.cardet.org) |
Dr. Giessler, Matthias (Cyprus)
| Position | Member of Advisory Board, CARDET |
| Affiliation | CARDET (Centre for the Advancement of Research & Development in Educational Technology) |
| Location | City Country |
| Node role | Advisory group member |
| Brief Biography | Enter brief biography here |
Professor George Angelos Papadopoulos, Ph.D. (Cyprus)
| Position | Professor of Computer Science |
| Affiliation | Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos Street, POB 20537, CY-1678 |
| Location | Nicosia, Cyprus |
| Node role | Interlocutor |
| Brief Biography | George A. Papadopoulos (Ph.D.) holds the (tenured) rank of Professor in the Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus. Professor Papadopoulos' research interests include component-based systems, mobile computing, multimedia systems, open and distance learning, parallel programming and high performance computing, GRID technologies, cooperative information systems and service oriented computing. He has published more than 100 papers as book chapters or in internationally refereed journals and conferences. Furthermore, he serves in the Editorial Board of 5 international journals and has served as a Co-Chairman, Steering or Program Committee member in more than 70 international conferences and workshops. Professor Papadopoulos is a recipient of an 1995 ERCIM-HCM scholarship award. He has been involved or is currently participating, as coordinator or partner, in over 30 internationally and nationally funded projects (total budget for his participation more than 4 MEURO), including 9 FP5 and FP6 IST (in the areas of tele-medicine, component-based systems, bioinformatics, e-learning and Internet technologies), 3 EUMEDIS (in Open and Distance Learning), 1 INCO-DC, 1 eTen (in tele-medicine) and 7 LEONARDO ones (in vocational training). He is the Director of the Software Engineering and Internet Technologies Laboratory (http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/seit). More information can be found at his personal web site at: http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george. |
