Minister of Education and Culture Costas Kades on Wednesday said that government efforts to render Cyprus a regional educational hub is delivering results, as the number of foreign students coming to the island has tripled.

Kades told Parliamentarians that he was pleased with the results, adding that the strategy of the Government aiming to render Cyprus a regional centre for higher education is effective.

Citing figures from Cystat, the Statistical Service of Cyprus, Kades said that in the academic year 2012-2013 the number of foreign students stood at 8.375, while in the academic year 2015-16 it soared to 17.601 and according to figures from the Ministry of Education last year it exceeded 21.000.

“We have almost tripled the number of students we received in 2012-13,” he noted.

The strategy to turn Cyprus into a regional educational centre by supporting both public and private universities to expand and upgrade their infrastructure and offer more attractive curricula is yielding results, the Minister stressed, adding that the new law that enabled universities to offer programs in languages other than Greek has contributed to that end.