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It is with great pleasure that I participate in tonight's Graduation Ceremony for the students of Frederick University. My presence here is a sign of appreciation and recognition of the very important work being done by your University, work which is in line with our own efforts to make our country a regional educational center. There is the infrastructure, universities like Frederick, that can successfully lead us to this goal.
Dear graduates, today marks for you the end of a beautiful yet demanding era and the beginning of a new one, with many challenges that you will be called upon to meet successfully.
Your education at Frederick University has provided you with all the necessary tools to successfully meet the challenges of your new beginning for a successful professional and personal career. You are graduating tonight from a great academic institution that has been recognized both nationally and internationally. That is why this year it has been extremely successful in the Times Higher Educational Impact Rankings 2023, which evaluates and ranks universities from around the world according to their performance in promoting and adopting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In this year's ranking, out of 1591 University Institutions worldwide, Frederick University was ranked in the top 300 Universities, receiving the highest score of all participating Universities from Cyprus and Greece.
It is also important to note that Frederick University is one of the three Cypriot Universities that secured, through very competitive procedures, full participation in a consortium of European Universities. As a full member of the consortium, Frederick University is part of the effort to create an innovative, internationally competitive and attractive education and research area.
I would be remiss if I did not mention tonight the visionary, the founder of this great educational edifice, and not only that, but the visionary of higher education in Cyprus, Michalis Frederick.
Among many other things, he helped families and students in need, he looked ahead and was a man who radiated great love for the citizen and especially for young people. The core of his being, and it is something that characterizes and will characterize the university throughout its existence, has always been his fellow human being.
He managed to share his dream with everyone, whether they were academics or researchers, holding high his timeless values and philosophy with an emphasis always on the student and the quality of studies. In his honour, academic and administrative staff, students and graduates, as well as researchers who have excelled in various fields consistent with the founder's principles are awarded every year.
The Cypriot State, being fully aware of the great importance that quality higher education has for the country, is constantly taking targeted measures, with the ultimate goal of turning our country into a quality educational centre - I insist on quality because we also see a constant trend for new universities and we have to be particularly careful as a State because the key to becoming a regional centre of education is the quality of the studies we offer in Cyprus. And it is something that as the new Government we are paying particular attention to, so that any actions that will lead to the establishment of universities in our country that will be exclusively of a for-profit nature, downgrading the quality of the studies offered, are not taken.
It is something that within the strategy that we are preparing and you will be the first to share with you the draft of our goals and objectives, is a key component.
The goal, therefore, is to transform our country into a quality and upgraded regional and international Education and Research Centre. Particular importance is attached to ensuring and improving the quality of Higher Education through the Quality Assurance and Certification Body in Higher Education, based on European and international standards and specifications, as well as policies adopted by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth to promote quality in Higher Education and actions that we will announce to achieve this goal in the near future.
Our goal and ambition as the new Government is the development of both Public and Private Universities in our country, the support and promotion of Higher Education in Cyprus, as well as - and it is something that is offered through the curricula of Federick University - the promotion of research and innovation and the linking of research and innovation and education in general with the needs of society and the labour market. Because what we want to achieve through encouraging our young people to study is to enable them to choose such disciplines that later they can be easily employed.
Dear graduates, with the completion of your studies, new horizons and new perspectives open up before you. Some of you will pursue new studies, postgraduate or otherwise, and others will seek a career in your chosen field.
Tonight marks the completion of a period that you will always look back on with a smile and nostalgia. I know there were difficult times, the exam periods, you had to go through the coronavirus crisis which was not the best thing about being a student, but the student years, know that they are always the best, full of new knowledge and skills, friends and experiences. So, tonight I think there is a joyfulness in all of you.
I congratulate you on reaching this important milestone in your lives and urge you to make the most of the knowledge and experience you have gained during your studies.
So seize life, seize the opportunities that come your way, discover your potential and make the most of them. Always remain open to new challenges, thus shaping your own future.
Always be inventive and find solutions to the problems of everyday life, which, you can be sure, will be many. Seek and question. Originality and innovation are characteristic of people who have not followed the beaten track, who have challenged the barriers and managed to see things from a different perspective.
And don't forget - it is an important ingredient of your success - to be passionate about whatever you tackle and always follow your dreams. The road to success can be difficult, but with dedication, hard work and perseverance, you can reach the top.
But I could not but give special mention to your parents and family, the unsung heroes of this whole journey who have supported you and without them your journey to academic knowledge would not have been possible, which is why they are proudly here tonight to share with you the joy of your success.
I wish you every success in whatever you choose and pursue in the future.
I wish you every success in whatever you choose and pursue in the future. But always remember that the greatest and most important achievement is to remain - and this is a stake for all of us - throughout your lives people of education, morality and dignity.
(PM/EP)
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