Cyprus University of Technology (TEPAK) is a new public university, founded by state law in 2004, and received its first undergraduate students in September 2007. The headquarters of the University are Limassol where all six schools operate.
TEPAK aspires to become a modern innovative university capable of delivering high level education and research in cutting-edge disciplines that today have great financial, technical and scientific performance. By focusing on applied research, the Cyprus University of Technology aspires to become a major contributor to our state and society in addressing issues that concern it in all areas of science, technology and knowledge that are in it.
The design of all departments is guided by four key objectives:
In view of the modern needs and requirements of the European single market and with the aim of contributing to the technological upgrading and modernization of the agri-food sector of the site, the Technological University established the first Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science in Cyprus. The Department offers a university degree in agronomic sciences with the possibility of specialization in three basic directions: a) Plant Production Science and Technology; b) Food Science and Technology; and c) Zootechnics and Dairy.
The three-dimensional curriculum focuses on state-of-the-art sciences and technologies such as Molecular Biology and Biotechnology and their multiple applications on plants, animals, micro-organisms and food. Biotechnology has been operating since 2011 and the first postgraduate program of the Department.
The vision of the Department is to develop and establish itself in an internationally recognized research and education center in the fields of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science. In the EU, in the framework of the Lisbon Strategy, these areas are part of a new and unified concept of modern scientific and economic activity, known as the “knowledge-based bio-economy”. In view of the recent accession of our country to the EU, the Department has as its primary objective the cultivation, development and promotion of the bio-economy sector in Cyprus, through the production (through research) and the dissemination (through education) of the necessary scientific knowledge and technology. Other sub-objectives of the Department are:
To attract academics of the highest possible level.
To provide its students with the most up-to-date scientific training and to conduct innovative applied high level research in the broader bio-economy field.
Establish close ties of cooperation with the local production and processing industry of agricultural products.
Promote rational and sustainable rural development in relation to natural and biological resources, biodiversity and the environment.
Promote international cooperation and educational mobility, especially in the European space.
The Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology and Biotechnology was founded in 2010 by Dr Dimitris Tsalta, Associate Professor, and has as his slogan “Putting Microbes to Produce”. The main goals and objectives of the research group are the exploitation of existing and newly acquired know-how for the enhancement of agricultural production using innovative microbiological practices as well as the diffusion of knowledge directly into primary and secondary production. The study of agro-industrial fermentations and their ecology is the group’s main research objective in seeking full investigation and then exploiting it. In particular, composting has been a major concern for the group over the last seven years, both for its optimization (time and quality) and optimization