The budget of the Cyprus State Scholarships Foundation (CSF) for 2023 was approved with 30 votes in favour this afternoon by the Plenary Session of the Parliament.
The budget is balanced and foresees total expenditure of €8.800,000 and total income of €8,806,010, which will mainly come from state sponsorship.
The expenditure of the IKYK includes in more detail Social benefits/education benefits (€8,333.511), operating costs, remuneration, purchase of equipment and other costs (€441,489), unforeseen costs and a reserve (€25,000).
In particular, expenditure on scholarships amounts to €8,363.869 and are mainly intended to cover the granting of a number of scholarships for undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral studies, the payment of the scholarship amount to existing scholarship holders of the institution who were approved in previous years of study and who are continuing their studies, the granting of a number of scholarships, offered by the Republic of Cyprus through the French national organisation 'Campus France' under a transnational agreement, to existing and new scholarship holders for undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral studies.
They are also intended for exceptional cases and expenditure not provided for in a specific budget chapter (e.g. appeals by candidates who have not been awarded a scholarship).
The budget includes a provision to cover part of the personnel costs, as the IKYK is staffed by civil service personnel assigned to the institution, while the remaining part is paid by the state.
Placements of MPs
Marios Mavridis[/B], a DISY MP, said that the country needs excellence in order to move forward. He also said that he agreed with the inclusion of professional disciplines, and said that it would be desirable if we created a national education plan and all children could study where they want, what they want.
Onoufrios Koulla of DISY said that the annual amount for excellence had been increased and that the procedures had been broadened and simplified. He added that the allocation will always relate to the number of merit winners.
In his intervention, Christos Christofias, an AKEL MP, praised the important role of the Foundation in supporting merit winners and those who are excellent and also meet certain socio-economic criteria.
This role, he continued, has added value because now with inflation and precision, the problems are becoming more acute and there is a greater need.
He said that the cash reserves amount to 2 million euros and it is surprising why the funds are not being exhausted and appealed to the ICYF to find ways to make them available at a time when regulations are pending to expand the beneficiaries for distance learning and for professional disciplines. He also said that all these will be eradicated with change and a progressive government. Christofias said that AKEL's concern was poor children from the grassroots while DISY's concern was and is the elite.
Chrysanthos Savvidis, a DIKO MP, said that IKYK supported many children and that the issue of expanding the beneficiaries was raised at the Board of the Foundation.
DIKO's Christos Orphanides said that the ICF inherited buildings and spent millions on repairs and rented them to law firms at what he said was a meagre rent.
Haralambos Theobembtou[/B] of the Ecologists-Citizens' Coalition said that we are grossly unfair to our youth and we must finally pay attention to professional qualifications and support children who can excel as car mechanics or plumbers.
Andreas Themistocleous[/B], an independent MP, said that there was simply money left over because we had no beneficiaries. He also said that the professional qualifications set by some were covered by the vocational training institutes.
Source: CNA
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