Cyprus Forestry College to reopen after a decade

The Cyprus Forestry College will reopen in January 2025 and offer its ‘Higher Diploma in Forestry’ programme from September of that year, following relevant Council of Ministers approval, Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou has announced.

In her statements after the session of the Council of Ministers on 17 July, Panayiotou noted that the suspension of the programme of studies at the Cyprus Forestry College in 2015 as a result of the financial crisis, had led to a streamlining of the Forestry Department but also eventually its understaffing.

"Having as our priority the protection and preservation of the forests and the strengthening of the operational readiness of the Forestry Department," she added, the Council of Ministers approved the reopening of the Forestry College in January 2025 and the offering once again of its ‘Higher Diploma in Forestry' programme with the first students entering the College in September 2025.

She noted that the study programme, which concerns a Higher Diploma in Forestry, will be three years long and was certified by the competent The Cyprus Agency of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education (CYQAA) on 17 June this year.

Panayiotou added that the Council of Ministers also approved the enrichment of the College’s existing educational programme with new programmes, aimed at Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), communities, citizens, etc., on issues related to the environment and nature, from January 2025.

The Minister noted that the aim of re-offering the College’s Higher Diploma programme is to strengthen the staffing of the Forestry Department, especially in relation to dealing with forest fires, while the enrichment of the training programme will provide an opportunity to train representatives of NGOs and communities, as well as citizens, governmental services and existing staff of the Forestry Department, among others.

(Source: InBusinessNews)