Education and Training

Human Resource Development Authority

The Human Resource Development Authority of Cyprus (HRDA) is the national agency responsible for human resource training and development. HRDA commenced its operations in 1979 under the name of Industrial Training Authority of Cyprus. In 1999, the Human Resource Development Law No. 125 (i) of 1999 was put into effect. The HRDA of Cyprus established under this law is governed by a tripartite Board of Directors, comprising government, employer, and trade union representatives. HRDA refers to the Government through the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, who bears the political responsibility for human resource training and development.

HRDA's activities encompass five major areas:

1. The formulation of an integrated vocational training and human resource development policy in accordance with the priorities of national socio-economic policies, on the basis of which appropriate training activities are promoted and training costs are distributed,
2. The continuous assessment of the economy's needs for training on the basis of which an integrated training policy is formulated,
3. The modernization of the training system with the creation of the necessary infrastructure, the systematization and certification of training, and the introduction of standards of vocational qualifications,
4. The distribution of information to enterprises and the public in general, so as to raise their awareness to the need for continuing training and the provision of advisory services,
5. The analysis of the acquis communautaire in the training field and the promotion of actions for facilitating its adjustment and convergence to European systems and practices.

Through its training activities, HRDA seeks to achieve:

• The upgrading of management standards and the adjustment of enterprises to the new realities emanating from the imminent accession of Cyprus to the European Union
• The strengthening of enterprises with highly specialised management personnel in order to accelerate their upgrading and modernization
• The provision of special skills to employees in order to improve product and service quality, and to increase productivity
• The provision of skills and knowledge to young people in order to make them productively employable.

Further to the programmes approved and subsidized by the HRDA, public and private training providers offer additional training programmes, among them the Adult Education Centres (run by the Ministry of Education), where a broad array of courses in personal development and language subjects is offered. In the private sector of non-formal vocational education and training, providers mostly offer work-oriented part-time courses, as well as preparation for external examinations.

Non-formal vocational education and training is also provided through:

• The Apprenticeship Scheme
• The State Institutes of Further Education (run by the Ministry of Education), which make available a wide variety of language and personal development subjects.
• The Cyprus Productivity Centre (a Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance department), offering accelerated training programmes for technical occupations
• Several private providers, which specialise in preparing secondary education students for external examinations (in foreign languages, and for university entrance).