The government will continue to invest in higher education, research and innovation, President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides assured on Friday, in an address at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the Cyprus University of Technology’s (CUT) School of Marine Sciences, Technology and Sustainable Development in Larnaca.
The foundation stone of the School of Marine Sciences, Technology and Sustainable Development of the Cyprus University of Technology, was laid in the Mackenzie area of Larnaca. The facilities are expected to be completed by August 2028. The construction contract amounts to €10,934,000, plus VAT. The new School will comprise the Department of Marine Sciences and Technology and the Department of Sustainable Development. Once fully operational, it is expected to accommodate approximately 500 undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The building will cover an area of approximately 4,960 square metres and will include classrooms, lecture halls, specialised laboratories, offices, meeting rooms and technological infrastructure.
A demanding process had been followed, involving the completion of all necessary institutional, legislative and financial procedures, the President said, expressing satisfaction that all obstacles had been overcome. “The planning has moved forward and today we are here to lay the foundation stone for the project,” he said.
“We will do the same for the port and marina of Larnaca. We will ensure that everything is done correctly, institutionally and with all the necessary safeguards, so that no problems arise and we do not end up announcing projects only to be forced to terminate them due to institutional, legal or other obstacles,” he noted.
A particularly important day for Larnaca
President Christodoulides also said that this was a particularly important day for Larnaca, signalling a new chapter in the city’s development and, more broadly, in higher education in Cyprus.
“The establishment of the School is part of a wider plan to develop higher education in our country, strengthen research and innovation, and forge closer links between our universities – and I must say that CUT is at the forefront in this area – and the needs of society and the economy,” he said.
He noted that Larnaca was a city whose history, identity and prospects were inextricably linked to the sea.
“I believe it is particularly symbolic that the city is acquiring a university school of this kind, focusing precisely on marine sciences, technology and sustainable development,” he added.
“Protecting and sustainably utilising our marine wealth, particularly in the face of challenges such as climate change, requires scientific knowledge, specialised human resources and innovative solutions,” President Christodoulides said.
He also stressed the importance of ensuring that the academic programmes to be offered, as well as the research activities to be undertaken, were linked to the actual needs of the labour market and the prospects of the blue economy.
The presence in Larnaca of the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute, together with the potential for cooperation with other research and production organisations, creates the conditions for developing a substantial knowledge and research ecosystem centred on the sea, he added.
“On our part, we will continue to invest in higher education, research and innovation because we believe that this country's greatest asset is its human resources,” he said.
CUT Rector, Panayiotis Zafiris, announced that the aim was to welcome the first students to the Sustainable Development programme in September 2027, using temporary premises made available by Larnaca Municipality.
The Marine Sciences and Technology programme is scheduled to follow in 2028, at the School's new facilities.
Zafiris said the programmes offered by the two departments had been developed with the participation of an international academic advisory Committee, which includes universities such as Cambridge and Oxford. Meanwhile, CUT is also developing international partnerships in the fields of marine sciences and sustainable development, he said.
(Source: CNA)
