The effective mobility of talent is the goal for Cyprus, said the Minister of Education, Sports, and Youth, Athina Michaelidou, noting on Tuesday at the Cyprus Forum that Cypriot students and researchers should be free to travel abroad, gain experience, and return if they so desire, while at the same time the country should be able to attract and retain talent from abroad.
Speaking during a discussion on the role of University Alliances in higher education and talent retention, Ms. Michaelidou said that the most important contribution of these alliances is to make Europe tangible in the daily lives of students, researchers, and academic and administrative staff.
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“Democracy is sustained not only through institutions and laws, but also through trust, active participation, equal opportunities, and the ability of people from different countries and backgrounds to learn and work together,” he said. As he noted, European university alliances enable students to learn across borders, academics to develop research communities, and universities to collaborate collectively with local communities, employers, and society at large.
In this way, the Minister of Education noted, they help transform European values into lived experience. “At a time when democratic societies are facing a growing tide of misinformation, European university alliances can also play a significant role in fostering critical thinking, democratic literacy, and mutual understanding,” she noted.
They provide, he added, young Europeans with the opportunity not only to experience European cooperation but also to develop the skills and abilities needed to defend democratic values.
Regarding what university alliances can do to address the “brain drain,” Ms. Michailidou noted that the challenge is to ensure that moving abroad “is a genuine choice and not the only path to a quality professional career or an irreversible departure for talented people.”
This, he said, requires reliable opportunities both in Cyprus and throughout Europe, a strong research and innovation ecosystem, transparent career paths, access to competitive funding, partnerships with innovative employers, and conditions that support internationally connected careers.
Equally important, the Minister noted, are organized and lasting ties with researchers and graduates abroad, so that mobility fosters ongoing collaboration, knowledge transfer, and opportunities for return. “This requires practical policy measures, such as joint research positions, stronger partnerships between universities and businesses, and structured engagement with the scientific diaspora,” she said.
Ms. Michailidou also said that European university alliances can provide the institutional framework for such initiatives, allowing researchers to maintain professional connections across borders without having to make a permanent choice between their country of origin and an international career.
“For Cyprus, the goal is the effective mobility of talent. Cypriot students and researchers should be free to live abroad, gain experience, and return if they so desire, while at the same time Cyprus should be able to attract and retain talent from elsewhere,” Ms. Michaelidou noted.
“To achieve this, we need an open, attractive, and internationally connected higher education system. We are making progress in this area; we are doing everything we can to strengthen internalization, even by changing the law, and all of this is supported by opportunities for mobility and collaboration,” he said.
European university alliances, he added, can make a significant contribution by creating stable academic and professional networks that remain active even when individuals move between countries and institutions.
Source: CNA
