Best universities in Cyprus 2022

Low tuition fees, a reputation for good public education and a stunning location makes Cyprus a popular choice for international students. The lingering British influence also means that many courses are taught in English.

The island has a rich past with preserved tombs, ancient mosaics and a whole town designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Modern Cyprus is equally fascinating; the former British colony sits at the crossroads of east and west (the capital Nicosia is closer to Beirut than Athens) and although the island has had its share of strife, today the combination of Coptic Christian, Islamic, ancient Greek pagan and British colonial influences come together to create a unique culture.

If you want to study for a degree in Cyprus, take a look at the best universities based on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 to choose the institution that is right for you.

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1. University of Cyprus

The University of Cyprus is a public institution founded in the island’s capital of Nicosia in 1989. 

Nowadays, the university has 21 departments split between eight faculties: faculty of humanities, faculty of pure and applied sciences, faculty of social sciences and education, faculty of economics and management, faculty of engineering, faculty of letters, the medicine school and the faculty of graduate studies.

As well as teaching, many faculties house research institutes undertaking postgraduate-level research in a range of fields, from oceanography to gender studies to nanotechnology. The university is gaining a reputation for quality research in some fields and Christopher Pissarides, a professor at the university, was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 2010.

The main campus is located in the capital, giving students all the advantages of life in a busy modern city while still being close to rugged mountains and beautiful beaches. The main campus houses the university library, which holds 620,000 books.

2. Cyprus University of Technology

The Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) is a public university in Limassol, the island’s second city, which is on the south coast. A new university, it was only established in 2004 and its first students began classes in the 2007-08 academic year.

The university is research-focused and was established in an attempt to offer subjects that were not being covered at Cyprus’ other large, public university, the University of Cyprus. The main schools of the university are in the old city centre in renovated government buildings. 

Forging links with foreign universities is a key focus at CUT and one of its stated aims is “the development of international cooperation with academic and scientific institutions”. The university is part of the European Erasmus scheme as well as several international partnerships with leading universities. 

3. University of Nicosia

Founded in 1980, the University of Nicosia (UNIC) is the largest university in Cyprus and the largest university in Southern Europe that teaches primarily in English. Roughly 12,000 students study there, from over 70 countries across the globe.

There are six schools across the university, offering over 100 on-campus and online courses, including medicine, health sciences, education sciences, blockchain, law, accounting, architecture and international relations.

The University of Nicosia has also established several regional study centres in Athens, Bucharest, Romania and New York. 

Top universities in Cyprus 2022

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2022 results.