University of Balamand announces plans to open medical school in Cyprus

BEIRUT — The University of Balamand has announced plans to build a medical school in the Cypriot city of Larnaca in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire Cyprus.

Here’s what we know:

    • In a press release issued Thursday, UOB announced that it had signed a letter of intent at the university’s main campus in the North Lebanon town of Koura. Present at the signing were the heads of both universities as well as the mayor of Larnaca, Andreas Vyras. The delegation met earlier with Patriarch John X Yazigi, who serves as chair of UOB’s board of trustees.

    • The agreement also entails setting up pre-medical programs in Larnaca. Both universities expressed hope that their efforts “will surely yield a successful endeavour with an immense added value to the healthcare sector” in Cyprus. UOB already offers 28 medical specialty degree programs in Lebanon.

    • The news follows an announcement last week that AUB would ink a deal to establish a twin campus in the Cypriot city of Paphos by 2023. In late March, the president of the Lebanese American University, Michel Elias Mawad, said in an email that his institution has plans to open a campus in Iraq.

    • UOB was founded by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East in 1988. It has 5,700 enrolled students and five campuses in Lebanon, including the renowned Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts.