Cypriot university attracts Greek scholars, students

Greek academics and students are looking to Cyprus for work and educational opportunities, data from the Open University of Cyprus (OUC) show, in hope of escaping the distortions of the Greek market and stubbornly high unemployment.

An opening for a PhD holder who will be recruited under a three-year contract to teach at OUC along with its 24 permanent staff received 1,200 applications, 875 of which came from Greece.

“Many of them are researchers up to 40 years of age, looking for work at a time when competition in the Greek market is fierce,” Erato-Ioanna Sarri, who heads the International Relations, Development and Communications Unit at the OUC, told Kathimerini.

“There are also experienced teachers of Greek universities who want to increase their income,” she added.

The high demand for teaching positions at the OUC is also linked to the interest shown by Greek students in distance learning.