Cyprus Centre

The relationship between the University, Cyprus and the UK Cypriot Community is long standing. Cypriot students first attended courses at what were the Northern and North Western Polytechnics from the late forties. Numbers rapidly increased and by the late sixties second generation Cypriots began to join our courses. Today, over 600 of the University's 16,000 students and more than 40 members of its staff come from Cyprus, Greece or the Cypriot Community in the UK.

Interaction between the University and the Cypriot Community Started in 1987 when a "Greek Cypriot Community Week" was organised. The success of this event led subsequently to the organisation of an increasing number of events, such as conferences, exhibitions and lectures in London, Cyprus and Greece.

In 2011 we went international with our conferences by organising a series of events to celebrate the City of Nicosia. These events took place at London Metropolitan University from 20^th June 2011 onwards with some continuing at other venues within London to enable exposition of Nicosia and of Cyprus to a wider audience. We then took the conference to Nicosia on the 5th November 2011.

The events include the following activities with further details given on the Nicosia page:

A Conference themed on Nicosia the Last Divided Capital in Europe and covering and including the following headings - The Cultural Heritage and Life of Nicosia; Nicosia as an Educational Centre; Political Issues of the Division; Business/Financial Potential of Nicosia; The promotion of Tourism to Nicosia; Architecture/ Town Planning; Museums and Religious Monuments of Nicosia
Visual exhibition(s) on the History and Development of Nicosia
Exhibition of books/paintings/artefacts on Nicosia including a Presentation of the book, ‘Nicosia and its Story’
A Colloquium addressing the view of Nicosia through British/Foreign Eyes
A Symposium organised in collaboration with the UK Pancyprian Gymnasium Graduates Association.

Two events were organised in 2010. The first of these was a public lecture, the speaker was Mr Stefanos Stefanou, the Republic of Cyprus Government Spokesman. The second event was a conference entitled, “Cyprus - 50 Years of Independence; Achievements and Challenges ". Video footage of both the conference and second lecture are also available to view at: http://aspectsofreality.blogspot.com/2010/07/need-for-solution-to-cyprus-problem.html

Previously a conference took place in Cyprus in March 2009 and focused on the subject of Tourism Amidst a Global Crisis. And in April 2009 the Republic of Cyprus Government Spokesman, Mr Stafanos Stefanou again delivered a lecture at Londonmet. This exceptionally well attended talk, on the subject of "The Need for a Solution to the Cyprus Problem". The Centre's second lecture of that year took place in November 2009. The lecture entitled “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Comparing Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Schoolbooks on the 'History of Cyprus'” was delivered by Dr. Yiannis Papadakis, Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus.

Prior to these events the first in conference series, "Cypriots and Britons: A Variety of Interactions I", was held in London in April 2007. This was met with much interest and again a general call extend this theme to a Cypriot audience led to a conference, "Cypriots and Britons: A Variety of Interactions II", which took place in Cyprus on 30 April 2008. This was not our first conference series having already established a highly successful series of conferences, based on the theme of, "Cyprus: The Aphrodite Heritage".

The close contact between the University and the Community over the last few years has been of great value to both. By providing its facilities the University has become in several respects a resource for the Community. The Community in return provides funds towards the organisation of various events and for scholarships.

The establishment of the Cyprus Community Studies Centre in 1995 is a natural development of the synergy which has evolved between the University and the Community in recent years.

The aim of the Centre is to:

promote general, political and cultural issues relevant to the Cypriot Community;
promote academic issues and research relevant to the community;

attract funds and other support for research relevant to the community;
further the recruitment of students;
develop some facets of the University's international perspectives and in particular facilitate the University's academic co-operation with institutions in Cyprus and Greece.

Our brochure can be downloaded for further information regarding our activities.