Shemaine Bushnell Kyriakides
The Mayor of Paphos, Phaedon Phaedonos, signed an agreement yesterday with TEPAK (The Cyprus University of Technology) for the establishment of a School of Tourism Management, Hospitality and Entrepreneurship.
The school, which is scheduled to begin operations in September 2023, will be built on a 4,300 sq.m. plot of land donated by the Paphos Municipality, which was originally supposed to be the site where the New Municipal Hall of Paphos was to be built.
The new school facilities will be constructed using state and EU funds amounting to 7.6 million euros and should be completed by July 2023. Along with the donated plot, the Paphos Municipality will also be giving TEPAK 12 million euros for the operation of the school which will accommodate an estimated 1000 students. Moreover, student dormitories will also be built nearby in order to accommodate a large number of students.
"there are some moments in the history of a city that stand out as historical landmarks, that mark the change of course and their orientation".
The signing of the agreement took place in front of hundreds of citizens who flooded the "Attikon" Multiplex, on Wednesday, November 10.
Speaking at the event, Pafos Mayor Phaedon Phaedonos described his speech as one of the most important of his tenure since, as he said, "there are some moments in the history of a city that stand out as historical landmarks, that mark the change of course and their orientation".
The Mayor emphasized that a key factor for the progress of a society is university education and that the construction of this Tourism school would allow potential students to get a high level of education without having to go abroad. The school will also attract highly educated and skilled people to the city of Paphos, thereby accelerating its social progress and boosting its local economy, something that he feels hasn't been seen since the 1974 invasion.
In his address, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, and Youth, Prodromos Prodromos, noted, "the development of higher education is an important pillar of the new model of development promoted by the government...Today Cyprus has more than 50 thousand students. This is wealth not only from educational activity but also of wealth for society, of fermenting ideas, of meeting new people, and of exchanging and developing science and technology".
The ceremony was attended by various officials including the mayors of Polis Chrysochous and Geroskipou and was followed by an open reception with a music program in the courtyard of Palia Ilektriki.
