FINDING a solution to the controversial student vacancies created at Cyprus University’s Polytechnic School is proving to be a brainteaser worthy of the country’s top legal minds, as suggested by yesterday’s unsuccessful House Education Committee.
The problem was created when the university’s senate recently decided to annul a previous decision by the Education Ministry that had awarded 25 positions to students; the senate prevented the students from enrolling, claiming their entrance examination marks were too low. The university was merely protecting its high standards, it claimed.
With the axed students in limbo, the university proposed a new round of applications, where anyone achieving the designated pass mark over the past three years was eligible.
That triggered a furious response from the 25 students, whose families have threatened to take matters to court. Even though the university has said it will comply with any court decision, things could get even more complicated; if the plaintiffs were to win their case, that would open up a whole new can of worms.
In a bid to avert this, Minister of Education Pefkios Georgiades yesterday met with University Senate chairman Stavros Zenios, who had just come out of a marathon House Education Committee session to discuss the same issue. Committee members criticised Zenios for the senate’s stance, arguing that it ran contrary to public sentiment.
For his part, Zenios insisted that the university had autonomy over such procedural matters and had therefore not broken any laws. His response set off a debate among deputies on the interpretation of the law, but the meeting failed to reach a solution or a compromise.
And Deputy Attorney-general Petros Clerides was brought in for his legal expertise, warning the parties involved that changing the current regime entailed legal and judicial complications.
Despite everyone’s commitment to resolving the issue quickly, no sign of common ground was visible yesterday, as both the Education Minister and Zenios held fast to their respective positions. However, Zenios offered that, in exceptional cases, the senate would consider allocating surplus positions, as a way out of the problem.
The worst case scenario — for everybody — would go something like this: Cypriot students currently enrolled in polytechnics in mainland Greece drop out and apply for the Cyprus University vacant positions, only to find out that they are not admitted; meanwhile they will have lost their place in the Greek polytechnic.
The Polytechnic School conundrum is only one of the many glitches apparent in the education system as the new academic year gets under way.
