Other options

While urging Cyprus to step in and sign a bilateral agreement with the UK to facilitate students, he did, however, note that Cypriot students are not short of options.

He noted that some families have already spent fortunes on prepping their kids for a UK education.

“Now most of them will have to scrap the UK from their options list, however, they are not without hope.”

Papayiannis said a student could study medicine at a top 300 universities for just EUR 450 a year.

He said EUR 450 is the tuition for studying medicine at Naples University and that a student could comfortably live there on EUR 800 a month.

“Students opting for this university could benefit from the state grant of EUR 3,000 while Italy also offers various reimbursements to students from the EU.”

He said there are universities in countries like Denmark which together with some municipalities give EU students extra reimbursements for meals and transportation.

Some universities have special “solidarity funds” which they use to subsidise student studies on top of any other scholarship they obtain.

“Students have a choice of at least 20 EU countries with decent to excellent universities, where they would not have to spend a fortune on getting a degree.”

However, there are things students need to know on before applying for a spot at a university in an EU country.

“That is where the Education Ministry needs to step up its game and provide students with all the necessary information, especially at a time when access to established UK universities is to become harder.”

The UK National Federation of Cypriots urged Nicosia to intervene and “make use of the historical ties between Cyprus and the UK, to keep up these strong academic ties that are obviously good for both the UK and Cyprus”.

“Cyprus and the UK have historically strong and close links, in the Commonwealth and beyond, and this should be taken into account as the UK looks to chart its destiny outside the EU,” said federation president Christos Karaolis.